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Acting head of Social Security quits after clash with DOGE over data: Report

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The acting head of the Social Security Administration (SSA) quit her job over the weekend after butting heads with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), over efforts to access certain sensitive government records, according to reports.

The Washington Post reported that three people familiar with Michelle King’s departure said on Monday that she stepped down from her position after the disagreement.

In response to King’s departure, President Donald Trump reportedly appointed Leland Dudek to lead the agency as the president’s nominee to serve as commissioner of the SSA, Frank Bisignano, is vetted by federal lawmakers.

Principal Deputy Press Secretary at the White House, Harrison Fields, said they expect Bisignano to be “swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks.”

ELON MUSK SAYS MILLIONS IN SOCIAL SECURITY DATABASE ARE BETWEEN AGES OF 100 AND 159

The logo of the US Social Security Administration is seen outside a Social Security building, November 5, 2020, in Burbank, California. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images) (VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

“In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner,” Fields said without naming the replacement. “President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long.”

The three individuals who spoke to the Washington Post on the condition of anonymity, reportedly told the publication that Dudek posted positive remarks about DOGE’s efforts to seek out fraud and cut costs across federal agencies.

The SSA did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.

DEMOCRATS LOVED IDEA OF DOGE BEFORE TRUMP, WHITE HOUSE QUIPS

Elon Musk speaks during an event in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP Images)

Musk is leading DOGE to aggressively slash government waste when it comes to federal spending under President Trump. The department was created via executive order and is a temporary organization within the White House that will spend 18 months carrying out its mission.

One of the department’s most recent targets is the SSA, which was created by the Social Security Act under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 and tasked with establishing a federal benefits system for older Americans.

As DOGE continues to find fraud and wasteful spending at SSA, Musk turned to X on Monday to say millions of people listed in a Social Security database are recorded as centenarians “with the death field set to FALSE!”

TREASURY DEPARTMENT RECOUPS $31 MILLION IN IMPROPER GOVERNMENT PAYMENTS TO DEAD PEOPLE

“According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE! Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” Musk posted, adding a couple of rolling on the floor laughing emojis.

His post features a chart indicating there are more than 20 million listed with ages 100 and higher, including more than 3.9 million in the 130-139 age range, more than 3.5 million in the 140-149 range and more than 1.3 million in the 150-159 range.

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While the U.S. population count in the 2020 census was more than 331 million, the count of people ages 100 and older was more than 80,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

February 18, 2025
Russ Vought, tapped as CFPB’s acting director, directs bureau to issue no new rules, stop all investigations

Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought is now also the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he has directed staff to not issue any new rules, to suspend effective dates of all final rules and to stop any new investigations.

Vought, also a Project 2025 author, was named acting director of the CFPB on Friday.

“I am honored that President Trump designated me as Acting Director of the Bureau on February 7, 2025,” Vought said in an email to CFPB colleagues obtained by RealClearPolitics. “As Acting Director, I am committed to implementing the President’s policies, consistent with the law, and acting as a faithful steward of the Bureau’s resources.”

He issued several directives that, effective immediately, must be followed by all employees, contractors and other CFPB personnel “unless expressly approved by the Acting Director or required by law,” according to RealClearPolitics.

RUSSELL VOUGHT CONFIRMED TO HEAD GOVERNMENT’S LEADING BUDGET OFFICE AFTER DEMS HOLD 30-HOUR PROTEST

Russell Vought speaks during a Senate Budget Committee hearing on his nomination, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

The directives include not approving or issuing any proposed or final rules or formal or informal guidance and for the bureau to suspend the effective dates of all final rules that have been issued or published but have not gone into effect.

Vought also ordered the bureau not to “commence, take investigative activities related to, or settle enforcement actions.” CFPB must not open any new investigation in any manner and must cease any pending probes, he said.

The acting director said the CFPB shall not issue public communications of any type, including research papers.

Russell Vought is sworn in during the Senate Banking Committee nomination hearing in the Dirksen Senate Building on January 22, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

Additionally, the CFPB must not approve or execute any material agreements, including those related to employee matters or contractors, and must not make or approve filings or appearances by the bureau in any litigation except to ask for a pause in proceedings.

The bureau was also told to cease all supervision and examination activity and to cease all stakeholder engagement.

Vought also sent a letter to the Federal Reserve requesting no money for the CFPB’s third quarter of fiscal year 2025.

SENATE DEMOCRATS SPEAK ALL NIGHT AGAINST TRUMP OMB NOMINEE, DELAYING CONFIRMATION VOTE

Russell Vought testifies during the Senate Banking Committee nomination hearing in the Dirksen Senate Building on January 22, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

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“Pursuant to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, I have notified the Federal Reserve that CFPB will not be taking its next draw of unappropriated funding because it is not ‘reasonably necessary’ to carry out its duties,” Vought wrote on X. “The Bureau’s current balance of $711.6 billion is in fact excessive in the current fiscal environment. This spigot, long contributing to CFPB’s unaccountability, is now being turned off.”

This comes after Vought was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

Fox News Digital has reached out to CFPB for further comment.

February 9, 2025
Rubio assume another Trump admin role, acting director of US Archives: report

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was tapped as the acting director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) just days ago, is taking on another new role in President Donald Trump’s new administration.

Rubio is now also serving as the acting director of the U.S. Archives, ABC News reported, citing a high-level official. Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment, but they did not immediately respond.

Trump signaled last month his intention of replacing the now-former national archivist Colleen Shogan, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, during a brief phone interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt. The National Archives notified the Justice Department in early 2022 over classified documents Trump allegedly took with him to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office. That would later result in an FBI raid and Trump being indicted by former Special Counsel Jack Smith.

The source told ABC News that Rubio has been the acting archivist since shortly after Trump was sworn in as the 47th president last month.

USAID HAS ‘DEMONSTRATED PATTERN OF OBSTRUCTIONISM,’ CLAIMS TOP DOGE REPUBLICAN IN LETTER TO RUBIO

Rubio speaks after a tour of a migrant return center and a demonstration of a dog trained to sniff out narcotics at La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City, on Feb. 5, 2025. (MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

This week, Rubio is traveling on his first official State Department trip to Central America, during which he convinced the Panamanian president to end its Belt and Roads project deal with the Chinese government. Trump has said the United States could claim the Panama Canal through economic or military measures if necessary after raising concerns about Beijing allegedly controlling the strategic waterway that was constructed by the U.S.

The Trump administration has suspended some foreign aid pending a review into how U.S. taxpayer dollars are being spent abroad, resulting in thousands of layoffs and ended programs.

Addressing reporters in Guatemala City on Wednesday, Rubio said he issued waivers for certain programs that assist in gathering biometric information to better identify fugitives, as well as bolster technology and K-9 units to identify shipments of deadly fentanyl and precursor chemicals, showing “firsthand the kind of foreign aid America wants to be involved in.”

“This is an example of foreign aid that’s in our national interest. That’s why I’ve issued a waiver for these programs, that’s why these programs are coming back online, and they will be functioning, because it’s a way of showing to the American people this is the kind of foreign aid that’s aligned with our foreign policy, with our national interest,” Rubio said.

Rubio is welcomed by Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martinez at La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City on Feb. 4, 2025. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

‘VIPER’S NEST’: USAID ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION, MISMANAGEMENT LONG BEFORE TRUMP ADMIN TOOK AIM

America’s top diplomat said the United States wants some fugitives who are “strategic objectives, meaning they help us strengthen our partners, and they help us to cut the head off the snake of a transnational group that’s particularly dangerous.” He said the State Department would be “working very closely” with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department in “prioritizing our extradition requests so that they align with our strategic objective with regards to who it is that we’re going after.”

The State Department announced on Wednesday that “the government of Panama has agreed to no longer charge fees for U.S. government vessels to transit the Panama Canal,” saving the U.S. government “millions of dollars a year.”

However, the Panama Canal Authority denied having made any adjustments to the tolls or transit agreements of the canal despite the State Department’s announcement, adding that they are “ready to establish a dialogue with the relevant officials of the United States regarding the transit of warships.” Earlier this week, Rubio voiced frustration about U.S. Navy ships having to pay to transit through the canal despite the U.S. being under treaty agreement to defend the canal if it’s attacked.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Guatemala’s President Bernardo Arevalo at the Culture Palace in Guatemala City on Feb. 5, 2025. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio is such a breath of fresh air & he’s proven to be incredibly effective in implementing President Trump’s PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH vision for the world,” Rep. Carlos Giménez, a Republican ally of Rubio in Congress representing south Florida, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Panama has agreed to drop its ‘memorandum of understanding’ with Communist China & to waive the toll for U.S. Navy ships transiting the Canal Zone. Panama must continue to work with the United States to evict Communist China from their country & achieve a productive, long-term deal that prioritizes both of our countries’ shared interests.”

Besides the canal, Rubio has focused his trip on immigration, praising the Panamanians for the decreased flow of migrants through the Darien Gap and overseeing a deportation flight of Colombian nationals back to Colombia.

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Rubio secured two agreements with first, El Salvador, and then Guatemala on Wednesday, for the countries to accept deportees from the U.S.

Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on X: @danimwallace.

February 6, 2025
Rubio says he’s USAID acting director as State Department absorbs agency

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that he is now the acting director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Rubio told this to reporters while taking questions from the press in El Salvador.

“USAID is not functioning. It has to be aligned with US policy. It needs to be aligned with the national interest of the US,” he said. “They’re not a global charity these are taxpayer dollars. People are asking simple questions. What are they doing with the money? We are spending taxpayers money. We owe the taxpayers assurances that it furthers our national interest.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives to watch as people board a repatriation flight bound for Colombia at Albrook Airport in Panama City on February 3, 2025. Rubio is in Panama on a two-day official visit. (MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/Pool AP/AFP via Getty Images)

“I am the acting director,” he confirmed when asked if he is now in charge. “Our goal was to allow our foreign aid with the national interest. It has been 20 or 30 years. They have tried to reform it. That will not continue.”

USAID staffers were instructed earlier Monday to stay out of the agency’s Washington headquarters after Elon Musk announced President Donald Trump had agreed with him to shut the agency. Thousands of USAID employees already had been laid off and programs shut down.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on X: @danimwallace.

February 3, 2025
Trump names Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as acting CFPB director

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., weighs in on Trumps tax cuts amid Scott Bessents confirmation hearing and Congress grappling with a strategy for the reconciliation bill.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the agency announced on Monday.

“I look forward to working with the CFPB to advance President Trump’s agenda to lower costs for the American people and accelerate economic growth,” Bessent said.

The CFPB’s announcement noted that President Donald Trump designated Bessent as the agency’s acting director on Friday. Former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra wrote in a letter published Saturday that he was no longer serving as the agency’s director.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

February 3, 2025
US Olympic gold medalist Ryan Crouser grades his acting skills in upcoming Super Bowl commercial

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Shot putter Ryan Crouser parlayed his record-setting third gold medal into an acting gig.

The USA Olympian became the first person to win three golds in the shot put this past summer in Paris, and now he is set to appear in a Super Bowl commercial next Sunday.

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“For me as a track and field athlete, [I] never would’ve even thought that a Super Bowl commercial could be a possibility. It’s been great,” Crouser said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.

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Gold medalist Ryan Crouser of Team USA looks on during the men’s shot put medal ceremony on day 9 of the Olympic Games Paris at Stade de France on August 4, 2024. (Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

“I mean, I don’t know how much of an acting career I would call it, because I’m kind of playing myself. But no, it was a really fun shoot, a lot of fun out flying out to L.A. Really just a dream come true, and I’m really excited about it.”

The Michelob Ultra commercial features Crouser, Randy Moss and Sabrina Ionescu playing pickleball. What makes the commercial great, though, is that Crouser wasn’t exactly doing a whole lot of acting while on the court.

“For me, being competitive, it made it pretty easy. The reason I’m good as a professional shot-putter is because I hate losing and [am] competitive by nature,” he said. “They had me lined up against a professional pickleball coach, player, and he was just bringing the heat on these serves. And I was trying to return them. It was a little bit of acting, but it was also pretty genuine.

Ryan Crouser of Team USA reacts during the men’s shot put final on day 8 of the Olympic Games Paris at Stade de France on August 3, 2024. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST SAYS DC PLANE CRASH HITS HOME AS AN ATHLETE: ‘THAT COULD HAVE BEEN ME’

“And I got a $60,000 camera in front of me, so they’re like, “Try to return it, but don’t hit the camera.”

Crouser has partnered with Michelob Ultra for some time now, which he calls a “genuine partnership.”

“They’ve been great. They do a lot to support Team USA, track and field. They’ve been so supportive of me through the Olympics. I don’t drink too much, especially in season, but when I’m out of season, it’s a beer that I tend to drink. What I’m doing 24 hours a day, I have to be accountable as a professional athlete. So a high-quality light beer is something that if I do drink, I can bounce back from the next day and have a quality training day. It’s a true genuine partnership, which always makes it so much easier,” Crouser said.

As for his camera skills, Crouser gave himself a pat on the back.

Ryan Crouser of Team USA competes in the men’s shot put final on day 8 of the Olympic Games Paris at Stade de France on August 3, 2024. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

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“I think I did pretty well,” he quipped.

“I’ve played pickleball. It’s a fun weekend activity. As a professional athlete, you have to find that balance between low risk but still fun activities. Nobody wants to be injured, like, skiing as a professional athlete, so pickleball’s a good happy medium. I can see why it’s so popular.”

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February 3, 2025
Trump orders assessment of aviation safety, names acting FAA administrator

American Airlines fuselage in the Potomac

A crew retrieves wreckage of American Airlines Flight 5342, which was involved in a collision with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders appointing a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) deputy administrator and ordering an immediate assessment of aviation safety.

The orders came after an American Airlines plane carrying 64 people and an Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers crashed in midair at about 9 p.m. Wednesday.

The aircraft plummeted into the frigid Potomac River near Reagan National Airport, leaving 67 people presumed dead.

In the Oval Office Thursday, Trump signed an order appointing Chris Rocheleau acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

VICTIMS IDENTIFIED IN DC PLANE CRASH INVOLVING AMERICAN AIRLINES JET AND MILITARY HELICOPTER

Search and rescue efforts at a wreckage site in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport early Thursday morning, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)

Rocheleau most recently served as National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) CEO and held multiple leadership roles at the FAA during his more than 20-year tenure, including director of the office of emergency operations and investigations.

Emergency responders assess airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The NBAA wrote in a statement it “welcomed” the announcement.

“Chris is an outstanding leader who will be good for the FAA, good for aviation and good for the country, especially at this challenging time,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “He has demonstrated excellence at every level in the government, military and aviation industry.”

DC PLANE CRASH TIMELINE: MIDAIR COLLISION INVOLVES 67 PASSENGERS, CREW MEMBERS, SOLDIERS

Trump called Rocheleau a “very capable guy” while signing the order.

A second executive order ordered an immediate assessment of aviation safety and an elevation of “competence” over diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

A crew retrieves wreckage of American Airlines Flight 5342 in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., Jan. 30, 2025. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)

While signing the order, he said former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama’s DEI policies were “just crazy.”

The memorandum says the Obama administration introduced a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude, and the Biden administration later encouraged the recruitment of people with “severe intellectual disabilities.”

“During my first term, my Administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence,” Trump wrote in the memo. “The Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous ‘diversity equity and inclusion’ tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA.”

A plane flies near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after a collision of American Eagle Flight 5342 and a Black Hawk in Arlington, Va., Jan. 30, 2025. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

While Trump ordered an immediate return to merit-based recruitment, hiring and promotion on his second day in office, he noted the recent plane crash “underscores the need to elevate safety and competence as the priority of the FAA.”

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Trump said Thursday the collision was a “confluence of bad decisions that were made, and you have people that lost their lives, violently lost their lives.”

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this story.

Alexandra Koch is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Prior to joining Fox News, Alexandra covered breaking news, crime, religion, and the military in the southeast.

January 31, 2025
Trump looks to enforce trans inmate crackdown as new acting federal prisons chief tapped

A new interim director has been tapped to lead the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) as President Donald Trump looks to enforce a crackdown on transgender inmates in facilities that do not match their biological sex.

William W. Lothrop was named the new BOP director after Colette Peters resigned on Inauguration Day. It’s unclear when the Trump administration will appoint someone to permanently fill the role.

“As we face ongoing challenges, including staffing shortages and operational issues, I am committed to working alongside you to find real solutions that strengthen our facilities,” Lothrop said in the statement. “We will continue collaborating with our law enforcement partners and stakeholders to maintain robust programming and support services for inmates.”

TRUMP’S ‘TWO SEXES’ EXECUTIVE ORDER COMES ON HEELS OF SCOTUS ACCEPTING ANOTHER CHALLENGE TO LGBT AGENDA

Trump signs executive order stating there are only “two-sexes.” (Getty Images)

On his first day in office, Trump announced a temporary hiring freeze for federal positions and reversed former President Joe Biden’s ban on private prisons. His executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” defines sex strictly as male or female, based on biological characteristics, and mandates that federal agencies adopt this definition in their policies and practices.

The order specifies that individuals should be housed in federal prisons according to their biological sex rather than their gender identity, which will apply to the 2,300 transgender inmates currently housed in federal prisons across the U.S. It also halts federal funding for transgender procedures and treatments for inmates.

“The Attorney General shall ensure that the Bureau of Prisons revises its policies concerning medical care to be consistent with this order, and shall ensure that no Federal funds are expended for any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex,” the order reads.

PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST PROSECUTED BY BIDEN DOJ REACTS TO TRUMP PARDON: ‘I WANT TO GIVE HIM A HUG’

During the Biden administration, several U.S. states allowed transgender inmates to be housed in facilities that align with their gender identity. (Getty Images)

During the Biden administration, several U.S. states implemented policies allowing transgender inmates to be housed in facilities that align with their gender identity. In 2021, California became the first state to enact a policy permitting transgender inmates to request housing based on their gender identity. Since then, the state has seen a significant increase in such requests, with a 234% rise in the transgender inmate population.

In January 2022, New York state revised its policies to allow transgender individuals to choose their prison housing. And Colorado reached a legal settlement to house biological men in women’s facilities last year, which was part of a case involving 400 transgender women.

Fox News Digital has previously reported multiple cases of male inmates, serving sentences for sexual assault, murder and other violent offenses, in federal prisons being transferred to women’s facilities. Many of them have received taxpayer-funded medical procedures to medically transition genders.

Lothrop, who was formerly the BOP deputy director, is replacing Peters, who was appointed by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 and touted as a reform-minded outsider tasked with rebuilding an agency plagued for years by staff shortages, widespread corruption, misconduct and abuse.

‘SCARED’ AND ‘TRAUMATIZED’ WALZ’S SUPPORT FOR TRANS WOMEN IN MINNESOTA WOMEN’S PRISON ‘ENDANGERING’ INMATES

In January 2022, New York state revised its policies to allow transgender individuals to choose their prison housing. (Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images)

The agency has nearly 36,000 employees and is responsible for more than 155,000 federal inmates. The BOP director is not subject to Senate confirmation, according to the legal news service Law 360. During her tenure, Peters appeared before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and spoke about the challenges the BOP faced, but she had trouble getting results.

During the end of Trump’s campaign, he pledged he would crack down on left-wing gender ideology and ran a successful ad campaign attacking his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, for her role in ushering in sex change procedures for incarcerated people in California.

“Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you,” the narrator of Trump’s campaign advertisement said.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and BOP for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

January 27, 2025
Philadelphia sports fan proves acting out can cost you your job

Finlete co-founder and CEO Rob Connolly explains how the company lets fans acquire stake in the potential future earnings of promising athletes on ‘The Claman Countdown.’

In today’s digital world, it’s increasingly difficult to for employees get away unscathed if they act out in public, even if it’s not considered to be egregious.

Trial attorney and co-managing partner at New-York based Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP, Misty Marris told FOX Business that employee conduct outside the work place can easily follow you right back into the office, and it can even cost someone their job.

It’s nothing new and yet, time and time again, there are occurrences when someone, including sports fans, go too far and subsequently, loses from their job.

5 MOST INFAMOUS FAN MOMENTS IN SPORTS

One of the latest examples happened this week when a Philadelphia Eagles fan at the center of a vile incident during the NFC wild-card game in Philadelphia lost his job at a New Jersey-based DEI-focused consulting firm this week.

The fan, identified as Ryan Caldwell, was seen in the viral video getting into the face of a female Green Bay Packers fan and calling her a “dumb c—” while her fiancé recorded the situation. He also taunted the man with other disgusting gestures.

Offices, in the Mission District of San Francisco, California, US, on Friday, May 31, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Camera phones and social media have really blurred the line between what is work related when it comes to off the clock activities,” Marris said.

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However, “whether an employee can get fired for actions taken outside the workplace is pretty fact specific”, according to Marris.

It depends on several factors including the nature of the conduct as well as what state the employee and employer are located in. Additionally, private companies are not bound by first amendment protections, which means an employee’s public statements or actions can be taken into consideration by the employer, according to Marris.

But “something does not need to be egregious to result in a termination, although with everything in the law there are exceptions,” Marris said.

Employees at tech startup company Fast work at their desks in the office on March 24, 2021 in San Francisco, California. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images / Jam Press)

According to Marris, most states follow “at-will” employment, which means an employee can be fired for any reason or no reason, except for protected class status, which is a legal status that protects people from discrimination.

But this doesn’t apply to government employees, union members, or those with employment contracts, where termination rules are based on the terms of their agreements.

Many contracts or union agreements include “for cause” clauses, which define acceptable reasons for termination. Additionally, some companies have policies protecting employees for lawful activities outside the workplace, even for at-will employees.

Some companies might also have policies about lawful activities outside the workplace that could provide protection even when an employee is “at will,” according to Marris.

Manhattan psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert told FOX Business that employees should “develop an ability to keep strong emotions in check and overall good mental health.”

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“This starts with understanding the situations that are likely to provoke you. Instead of reacting impulsively, take a moment to pause and consider the potential consequences of your actions,” Alpert said, adding that “techniques such as deep breathing, stepping away from the situation, or redirecting your energy toward something constructive can make a significant difference.”

A usinessman sitting in front of computer in office (iStock / iStock)

If people turn to therapy, it’s vital that therapists equip them with practical tools to make meaningful changes, according to Alpert, who is the author of, “Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days.”

“True progress comes from learning to take responsibility and ownership of your behavior, and implementing strategies that help you maintain composure in challenging situations. By doing so, you not only safeguard your personal and professional reputation, but also demonstrate the kind of composure and maturity that others respect and admire,” he said.

January 26, 2025