So here's a situation a person I know is facing that they want some suggestions about.

This person is having issues in the workplace, some of which they are the cause of and some of which they are the victim of. The other day, this person publicly made some offensive remarks about another person they work with during work hours, but not on company property or while they were on the clock. (It was an unpaid break of some sort, this person was clocked out.)

This person was called in to speak to a higher up and reprimanded for this conduct, despite it occuring off site and off clock. There's a distinct possibility that they will lose their job, because this incident was not the only negative situation in which they are or have been involved.

The question they asked me, that I'm turning around and asking you, is whether or not they should fight the reprimand and then any potential termination stemming from it. To the best of their knowledge there is no company policy which covers off-duty conduct of this type, so the discipline for it may not be supported by the employee handbook. Where I told them that an issue may arise is that they were on their break (clocked out), but still within the confines of the work day and made the remarks in front of people with whom they work. There is no explicit company policy or law establishing protection for what they did, but there's seemingly no explicit prohibition of it either. Clearly it was wrong, but does this person potentially have legal recourse for wrongful termination of they are fired over something that is not an offense under company policy?

Thoughts?