Dive Brief:
- A Wisconsin winter sports venue will pay $20,000 to settle claims that it fired a Christian employee over religious posts made to his personal social media accounts that a manager flagged as discriminatory toward gay people, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Monday.
- EEOC filed the lawsuit in 2025, alleging that the manager issued a warning over the posts despite the fact that they were not directed at the company, The Rock Snowpark, or any of its employees. The company also did not receive complaints from customers, vendors or employees about the posts. EEOC claimed the employee was terminated after posting a Bible verse following the warning.
- Social media has become a particularly thorny compliance topic for employers of late. While employers have some discretion to discipline employees over content posted on social media, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits employers from treating employees unfavorably because of their religious beliefs, EEOC has said.
Dive Insight:
Recent years saw social media activity become a workplace liability for many organizations. A September 2025 survey of employers by Resume Now found that 29% reported an increase in workplace conflict tied to social platforms over the prior six months, much of it following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Kirk’s death and social media commentary on it touched off a wave of firings and other disciplinary actions affecting cultural figures as well as employees in many industries. It also placed increased scrutiny on employers’ off-duty conduct policies pertaining to social media, attorneys told HR Dive at the time, with some noting the importance of maintaining consistent and clear guidelines around online activity.
Prior lawsuits showed how social media could cause workplace disputes in other contexts. In May 2025, for instance, an openly gay Christian lawyer sued his former employer claiming that he was unlawfully fired for posts that were critical of transgender policies. And in 2024, an actor for the Walt Disney Co.’s “The Mandalorian” sued the company for wrongful termination, claiming that she was fired for making political posts.
But EEOC has long maintained that information obtained about employees or job candidates from social media cannot be used to make employment decisions on prohibited bases, such as religion.
“An employer cannot fire an employee simply because it finds an employee’s religious beliefs objectionable,” Victor Chen, spokesperson for EEOC, said in the agency’s press release announcing the settlement with The Rock Snowpark.