Can my Employer ask me to take down my Facebook?

[jamie]

The basic answer is, yes they can ask. Can they fire you for not complying - yes, but you may have legal recourse.

As other commenters have noted, US is mostly an at-will workplace where an employer may terminate you for any reason. Technically, there is no law that prevents the employer from firing you for any reason under the sun (except for specified discriminatory reasons, such as sex, race and religion) or for your refusal to perform an illegal act, thus such a dismissal would not be against an established law ("illegal").

There is a tort under civil law which you can receive compensation for being dismissed in a "wrongful" way. There is recourse against such actions though, such as you can claim unemployment (which cost the employer higher premiums for years in their unemployment insurance) and can open them up to a civil tort of "wrongful termination". The difficulty is proving that they fired you wrongfully (basically by requesting that you abridge your first amendment rights which has no direct connection to the company, they are impinging upon your constitutionally guaranteed rights as a part of the job, which could be the basis of a wrongful termination suit - in the past, such suits have cost employers millions of dollars in settlements and judgements). Have them put the request in writing where you have documentation of that request.

This is being provided solely for informational purposes. It is not intended to be legal advice, opinion or representation.