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Why your Twitter and Facebook comments could cost you your job

By Stephen Robinson

July 18, 2012 | 4 min read

The legal view: Stephen Robinson of Laytons Solicitors warns of the perils of work-related social media comments and why thinking before posting might make the difference between employment and the dole.

It’s Friday night, you’re in the pub enjoying a few post-work drinks with colleagues. You get out your smartphone and decide to vent your feelings about your employer or colleagues. Surely you’re entitled to say what you want on your Facebook or Twitter page, right?

What might seem like harmless free expression on your personal social media pages could in fact cost you your job. Just as inappropriate remarks made in the workplace have always come with the risk of dismissal, similar comments made on social networks attract the same risk.

My own firm’s research suggests that 30 per cent of employers have taken a member of staff through a formal disciplinary procedure as a result of comments made on their social media pages.

You may believe that you have the right to post what you like on your Facebook or Twitter page as long as your privacy is set to Fort Knox standards. However, there are a number of recent employment tribunal claims brought by staff sacked for inappropriate comments made on social networking sites which have been successfully defended by employers. They suggest that courts are now regarding social networks as akin to public forums regardless of the status of the users’ privacy settings.

A recent employment tribunal in Northern Ireland (Teggart v TeleTech) upheld the dismissal of a worker who had made obscene comments about a female colleague. The company decided that the comments constituted harassment and justified their sacking.

While there are no hard and fast rules about dismissal following social media abuse, this case has given employers a little more confidence in dealing with workers who write defamatory comments about their fellow workers or consistently criticise the company they work for.

Users of social media must be aware that something written in the online sphere isn’t necessarily private as it can be copied and passed on to others, retweeted and shared – sometimes with such speed (as was the recent case with @Georgia_Ford), that the author has little time to react.

It could be argued that employers reading and then taking action against workers’ online comments is akin to them opening their personal mail, but companies do have a duty to protect their employees.

Above all they cannot ignore the safety and wellbeing of staff especially against harassment and bullying whether online or not – particularly when it can be proven, for instance on a Facebook wall. The reality is that anyone commenting via social media has very little control over the distribution of the tweet or post which means there is no privacy.

Companies can avoid many of these problems by putting in place a social media policy for their staff – 52 per cent of firms we surveyed already have one. This needn’t be a draconian charter, but guidelines put in place to make staff aware of the consequences should they post something that could be taken as offensive against the company or colleagues.

Everyone makes an error of judgement sometimes, but with errors made online, it can be very difficult to go back and there often can be serious consequences.

Do you think it's fair that employers should be able to sack staff on the basis of their social media comments? Have you ever taken action against an employee for things they've said online? Join the debate in our comments section below.

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