When to fire a socially bizarre person.

There were two employee firings that made national attention recently.  I would like to share my take on why they are different and see if you agree. 

The first one was fired for being a Satan worshipper.  Apparently, she was good at her job, but was fired just for this.  The second was a District Attorney who had an excellent conviction rate.  But it was discovered that she was moonlighting as a dominatrix for hire (why is that not surprising for a DA?).  She was fired for this.

There are two things to think about.  First, were the firings legal?  If not, the rest of the post is moot.  We have certain protected classes in the US where it is illegal to use these factors as a basis for hiring and firing.  These include gender, race, religion, disability, and in some states a few others.  On the other hand, if you want to fire someone for wearing blue shirts, even if it is not work related, a private organization can legally do it.  So with our two cases, we have to decide if Satan worship is a religion or not.  I don’t think S&M is ever considered a religion or any other protected class.

If they are legal, the next thing to think about is whether these were smart firings.  If someone is really good at their job, but has a bizarre or socially unacceptable behavior outside of work, is that a smart reason to fire them?  Does awareness of this outside behavior hurt workplace performance overall because of gossip or poor teamwork?  This is a tough call and may not be the same in every case.  If I were the employer, I would be very hesitant to lose a competent, above average employee for such an unrelated reason.  Good workers are hard to find.