Matt Gomes
Quoted
Forbes
"Companies Seek To Limit PR Damage Caused By Employees Who Took Part In Capitol Riots."
In an article published by Forbes on January 11, 2021, Partner Matthew Gomes is quoted discussing how companies should and are responding to the arrests, news coverage and social media posts about the role their employees and executives played in last week’s takeover of the U.S. Capitol.
“If an employer can identify its employee as someone who engaged in illegal conduct during last week’s riot, such as by a photograph, video or social media post, that should be sufficient to support terminating that employee,” says Gomes.
Gomes further explains the requirements employers must fulfill in order to discipline or terminate employees.
“Critically, in most of these cases, the employer does not have to prove that the employee actually engaged in the misconduct for which he or she was disciplined or fired,” he says. “Rather, the employer need only establish that it had an honest, good faith belief that the employee is guilty. Thus, if the employee claims, ‘It wasn’t me,’ the employer does not have to accept that excuse if the photographic, video or other evidence tends to show otherwise.”
For the full article, click here.