By Katie Maguire on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

The recent online racist tweet abuse targeted at a trio of England players after their Euro 2020 final defeat brought into sharp focus the issue of whether an employee’s actions on social media can result in them being sacked.

While online racist bullies may claim they can say and do what they like in their own private lives, this isn’t necessarily the case. Where the online abuser can publicly be linked to working at a company, it will put that company under huge pressure to take disciplinary action against them.

This was the case when an employee from estate agency Savills levelled racist tweets at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka. Savills suspended the employee and launched a swift investigation into the tweet. The employee has subsequently claimed his account was hacked and the matter is being investigated by the police.

>See also: Do I have to pay staff who are self-isolating?

But can the employee be sacked as a result of posting a racist tweet online? The simple answer is yes, but it is of course not that simple.

‘Sack an employee on the spot – even for

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