Recently Phil Robertson was suspended from filming of Duck D

Recently Phil Robertson was suspended from filming of Duck Dynasty for comments made to GQ magazine. Conservative pundits have argued that Mr. Robertson was exercising his right to free speech. Similar incidents have occurred before involving different people. Do companies have the right to hold individuals responsible for the things they say?

Solution

Employees are the brand ambassadors of their company. Their behaviour or conduct in public directly or indirectly affects the brand image of the company they work for. For example, consider a case when a marketing executive of Coca-Cola is seen enjoying or heard appreciating products of Pepsico, won\'t it raise question over Coca-Cola products if its own employees don\'t enjoy it? So, companies definitely have the right to hold individuals for what they say but only as long it has a direct or indirect effect on the company and its brand image. It must also be understood that the degree of effect depends on the position that the particular employee is holding in the company.