John Terry Episode Shows Employers’ Dilemmas
9 March 2010
An employment lawyer in the UK believes the revelation of England football captain John Terry’s flings and its after-effects on his career has raised some important issues about an employee’s duty to his/her employers. While the national captaincy was snatched away from Terry,
John Buchanan of Rothera Dowson solicitors said employees have a duty of faithfulness and good conduct to their employers and bosses may sometimes take action or fire a worker if his/her conduct in private life has brought the organisation’s reputation into question.
According to Buchanan, even though Terry’s extramarital affairs attracted a lot of public wrath there is no connection between his private life and his performance on the field and thus,
In Buchanan’s opinion, what a worker does outside office hours is his own business and bosses should refrain from taking any action unless they have concrete evidence that such actions have brought disrepute to the organisation. He gave the example of Adrian Mutu, whose contract was terminated by the Blues after he was found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs. Buchanan said while the courts have to decide these matters on merits,
Adrian Mutu lost his
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