Mikey,
It depends on a couple of things. Did they, I assume you mean the nurses as I have seen this story b4, sign a contract based on what they can and can’t do outside of the company time? If so, then the company is allowed to. If not, then I don’t think the “company” has a legal ground to stand on with current laws.
Oh and if a couple worked for a porno company and did stuff on the side, they might be violating company rules against competition.
Other than that, hey what a person does outside of work should be their own damn business. I take this stand with drugs too.
An office worker, for example, likes to enjoy the occasional toke on the weekends or after work hours. Come Monday morning that office worker may face termination because they still have THC in their systems, but never smoked during working hours. Their job does not entail heavy machinery, driving or other forms of potential harmful situations, but could still loose their job because of a no-tolerance policy company-wide.
That said, as I have posted my Libertarian agenda, I think the company should be able to fire, but they should know who they are hiring first. If I as a business owner didn’t believe in your religious views, I should be able to say “I am sorry, but I wont hire you.” Or, in this case if I were against porno material, and you worked for me, then okay yeah, I should be able to fire you.
Where I am going with this is, the free will of a company and the company’s owners to determine the type of people that are hired and fired. These are the people that help your company succeed or die.
Me, I could give a rat’s ass as to what people do on their private time and I could care less what most of their moral system is, but in a free society, we should as employers be able to run our companies in the way that suits our own belief and value systems.
It’s a catch 22. The employee can and should look for a company that is more than a paycheck but also offers you an environment in which you feel comfortable in.