Can you be fired in North Dakota for what you post off the clock? N.D.C.C. 14-02.4-03 explained

A post written at home in the evening can reach an employer as easily as one written at a desk. North Dakota deals with lawful activity outside work in its human rights law, chapter 14-02.4 of the North Dakota Century Code. There, "participation in lawful activity off the employer's premises during nonworking hours" sits in the same list as race, sex, age and disability (N.D.C.C. 14-02.4-01 and 14-02.4-03). This page explains what the text says, based on the chapter as published by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly.

The short answer: it is a discriminatory practice for a North Dakota employer to refuse to hire, to fire, or to treat someone worse in pay, promotion, training or any other term of employment because of lawful activity off the employer's premises during nonworking hours that is not in direct conflict with the essential business-related interests of the employer (14-02.4-03(1)). There is a further exception for activity contrary to a bona fide occupational qualification tied to a particular employee or group (14-02.4-08). The chapter does not mention social media. Our reading, not a court ruling: a lawful post made off site and outside working hours is a lawful activity on the face of the text, and the open questions are whether it directly conflicts with the employer's essential business interests or falls under the occupational exception.

Who is covered

• Employers: a person in the state who employs one or more employees for more than one quarter of the year, and a person anywhere who employs one or more employees whose work is done partly or wholly in North Dakota (14-02.4-02(8)). So even very small employers are covered.
• Exceptions: the employment sections do not apply to employment by the individual's parent, grandparent, spouse, child or grandchild, or to domestic service (14-02.4-10(1)).

What the law protects

• Every stage of the job: unlike a rule limited to dismissal, the text covers refusing to hire, discharge, and unequal treatment in application, hiring, training, apprenticeship, tenure, promotion, upgrading, compensation, layoff, or any term, privilege or condition of employment (14-02.4-03(1)).
• Job ads: an employer may not advertise or otherwise indicate that people who take part in lawful off-duty activity not in direct conflict with its essential business interests are unwelcome or not acceptable (14-02.4-06).
• Retaliation: threats, retaliation or discrimination against a person who opposed a discriminatory practice, or who in good faith filed a complaint or took part in an investigation or proceeding, are also a discriminatory practice (14-02.4-18).

The limits

• Off site and off the clock: both conditions are in the text. Activity on the employer's premises, or during working hours, is outside the protection.
• Direct conflict: the activity is protected only if it is "not in direct conflict with the essential business-related interests of the employer" (14-02.4-03(1)). The chapter does not define those words.
• Occupational qualification: an employer may refuse to hire or may discharge someone for lawful off-duty activity that is contrary to a bona fide occupational qualification that reasonably and rationally relates to the employment activities and responsibilities of a particular employee or group of employees, rather than to all employees (14-02.4-08). Our reading, not a court ruling: as in Colorado, a rule written for a particular role fits this exception better than a blanket rule for all staff.

Complaints and relief

A worker may file a complaint with the division of human rights within the department of labor and human rights, or bring an action in district court within three hundred days of the act. If a complaint is filed with the department first, a court action must be brought within ninety days after the department dismisses it or issues a written probable cause finding. Where a collective agreement or employment contract has its own process for discrimination claims, that process must be completed first (14-02.4-19).

The department or the court may order the employer to stop, grant injunctions and equitable relief, and award backpay of no more than two years from the date a minimally sufficient complaint was filed, reduced by what the worker earned or could have earned with reasonable diligence. The department and its hearing officers may not award compensatory or punitive damages. A court may award the winner a reasonable attorney's fee, and must order a complainant whose allegation is false and not made in good faith to pay the employer's costs and fees (14-02.4-20).

What this means in practice

• Workers: lawful posts made off site and in your own time have some protection in North Dakota, from hiring through dismissal, but not posts made at work or on work time, and not where they directly conflict with the employer's essential business interests. Note the three hundred day limit, and keep copies of what you posted and of any decision based on it.
• Employers: before acting on an off-duty post, check that it was made off site and outside working hours, and if so whether it directly conflicts with an essential business interest or breaks a qualification tied to the worker's particular role. Since even job ads are covered, keep social media rules in postings tied to specific roles.

Compare the Colorado off-duty conduct law, which covers dismissal only. Illinois protects only off-duty use of lawful products, see the Illinois off-duty conduct law. Asking for access to a worker's accounts is a separate question, covered in social media password laws in the US.

All three state laws side by side: off-duty conduct laws in the US.

This page covers North Dakota only and is general information based on chapter 14-02.4 of the North Dakota Century Code as published by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly when checked on 4 November 2026, not legal advice. Check for later amendments before relying on it.