Employers who discover off-duty misconduct of one their employees often wonder what course of action they should take to address the situation—or, sometimes, if they should take action at all. For some employers, their actions and reactions may be governed by a collective bargaining agreement that prescribes the process for handling off-duty misconduct by bargaining-unit employees. When the alleged misconduct is by an executive or highly placed administrative employee, the degree of employer reaction may be addressed in an individual employment agreement. In other situations, the impact of a rank-and-file employee’s off-duty conduct may be insufficient to trigger any action.

By taking a closer look at the timeline of the Ray Rice incident and the events that unfolded after it happened, many employers can learn some best practices for how to deal with potentially serious off-duty incidents that may happen with their own employees.

Event: On Feb. 15, 2014, the media reported that Ray Rice, former running back for the Baltimore Ravens in the National Football League, and Janay Palmer (his then-fiancée, now wife) were arrested on simple assault charges, charged and released from jail. The reports indicated that Rice and Palmer had gotten into a fight at a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but there were no additional details at the time.

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