Bank Worker Fired Over Facebook Post

[Yuka]

[citation][nom]john_e[/nom]I find companies who check their employees profile are invading their employees privacy and are using facebook to spy or checkup on their employees. The companies who do that, should be sued. They have no business checking on their employees private lives.People use this medium to vent their frustrations, some are more vocal then others. However the above employee has specifically used the companies name and therefore pays the price of her stupidity. What annoys me is that I FEEL both parties are wrong, her for naming the company by name, and company using Facebook to spy on her and fire her. Company using Facebook to spy on their future applicants before being hired, or using FB to monitor their employees free speech is getting out of control and sooner or later a company will be sued for invasion of privacy. It all takes 1 greedy lawyer and a civil suit.[/citation]

Facebook and privacy don't mix very well together. Even less when your profile is public.

Besides, nowadays, what -you say- has a bigger weight than before, thanks to written/digital proof. Back in the day if word came to your company about you saying they were "bad", they wouldn't be able to prove it easily. With Facebook and Twitter, well, there you go. If it is accountable as proof, you better watch what you post AT ALL TIMES. As simple as that. You'll be accountable for what you say, and it's a very good thing, because you will have to actually THINK before writing BS about people or companies. If you guys don't want to be "told" about talking crap about other people, then don't do it. You gotta be a real jackass to think otherwise.

Cheers!

 

[tommysch]

LOL @ her. I hope she ends up on a park bench.

 

[NuclearShadow]

This is a issue where I believe blame can be landed on either or even both parties. Certainly a employee can go way too far and say something should should make them lose their jobs.

However people need to be allowed to vent and as long as they do not go too far then it should not be held against them if they do it while not presently at the job. They also deserve their own privacy. As much as privacy is important I do believe the venting part is more so. To deny someone the ability to do such when they are simply willing to only use words on their own time and not go too extreme is likely going to cause far more bad than good.
If people cannot find a place to vent and a audience to receive such then they are much more likely to snap. I really don't want to see more workplace shootings because a employee bottled in their emotions and I certainly don't to see a story on the evening news on a former employee going on a killing spree simply because he/she was fired due to something on facebook.

I'm sure many of us here currently work with or worked with that one person who always got it harder for no reason by the boss and may have also been shunned by fellow employees even though he/she is a hard worker and a decent person. Don't bet on this person being able to take it forever without some sort of reaction if they lose their methods to vent the stress.
Sadly I am sure that some people who read this comment will be that mistreated person.

 

[serendipiti]

Husker, I think the problem is privacy. If you comment that about Apple to your wife, you won't expect to get fired. The problem is when this becomes public, and here we get that users don't think of it. Anyway, you can always say: that's not me.

 

[jitpublisher]

This person acted the fool and now she is paying the price. She is getting exactly what she deserves, nothing. You want to complain about your employer, fine, we all do time to time. But don't start posting it on the internet so it can become news to the world or you will suffer the consequences.

 

[thebigt42]

I does not really matter where she made those stupid comments...If she had said them in a coffee house and was over heard my her boss she would have been just as fired

 

[LORD_ORION]

A reasonable line needs to be drawn somewhere.

Open profile? Everything you say is going to have a consequence.

Private profile, but someone "sees" what you've written there and uses that against you. That is invasion of privacy.
eg: Just because my boss knows I have a telephone and has the number does not give him a warrant to tap my phone.

 

[liquid0h]

[citation][nom]overclockingrocks[/nom]IMHO what is said or done off the clock if it is well within reason (complaining about your job on your own time unless it's slander is fine in my book) should not be something that your employer can fire you over. I'm a Canadian and not a litigous person by nature but they should be sued into oblivion sorry she's off the clock boys she can say you guys suck all she wants as long as it's not slander,Company went too far in this case. Can't say it was smart on her side either to post comments on her account either. Nevertheless, it wasn't slander. [/citation]

I agree. Company went too far in this case. Can't say it was smart on her side either to post comments on her account. Regardless though, it wasn't slander.

[citation][nom]husker[/nom]You are wrong and I can get you to admit it (if you are honest) in 2 seconds. Do you think that if I work as the VP of Marketing for say, Apple, and then I post a YouTube video about how Apple products suck, then I should get to keep my job? My example was extreme, I know, but now that I have you (if you are honest) admitting that somethings you do "off the clock" are fire-able offenses, now it is just a matter of deciding when someone has crossed that line. Clearly in my extreme example Apple would feel that I was hurting their company image and public perception of their products and therefore their bottom line. Do you think perhaps (if you are honest) that maybe, just maybe, given the negative comments she made about the bank that they felt the same way?[/citation]

I think you're getting confused with slander and private opinion.

 

[blackened144]

She can vent about her job all she wants, she crossed the line when she named her employer. Publicly bad mouthing the company you work for gives them a perfectly legal reason for your termination.

 

[liquid0h]

[citation][nom]thebigt42[/nom]I does not really matter where she made those stupid comments...If she had said them in a coffee house and was over heard my her boss she would have been just as fired[/citation]

...And then she would have sued the company for wrongful termination. You can't fire someone over an opinion, not legally anyway.

 

[bildo123]

[citation][nom]kriswitak[/nom]Facebook is something that society has created making people think they need to use it. I got rid of mine a while back and personally feel less annoyed with the retarded posts and spam I used to get.[/citation]

I never even bothered with WasteBook after WasteSpace. It does appear to be a decent tool for touching base with friends, but really, just give me a call.

 

[thechief73]

Yet another example of the dwindling intelligence of america and a good majority of "social" networking users.

+1 for kriswitak and bildo123, I don't need fake friends or constant updates of what they are doing, I don't care to be in anyones business that much in the first place, seriously is it that great to let the whole world into your life? Nor am I an attention whore looking to get off on how many fakebook friends I have, you just cannot have a "social" life on the internet, its a farce, go out into the world meet and REALLY communicate with REAL people not a bunch of internet posers.

 

[thechief73]

My mistake, it seems this genius lives in the UK.

 

[Guest]

It's a company, not a person. Voicing your opinion in a forum, public or otherwise, used to be considered protected speech. It seems like the only thing worth protecting anymore is the bottom line.

She should not have been fired for posting on her facebook page. If she were voicing these opinions on an investor site, or posting on a company blog, I could understand the decision.

I sincerely hope she manages to take them to the cleaners. I am sick and tired of companies being more valued than people. It's tripe, and it's sickening.

 

[ianal]

I kind of see the open facebook b1tching about your employer the same as if a tv reporter on the street asked you who you worked for and what you thought about them. If you bad mouth your employer on the nightly news you would get fired. Pretty much the same with bad mouthing them on a open facebook account.

 

[borisof007]

WOW, she shares my last name! Not often I see another Furlong

 

[dark_lord69]

This is one of the reasons I don't use facebook.
Blogging w/o revealing who you are can help blow off some steam if you hate the company you work for I don't have a need to do it as I love my job (which also happens to be a Bank).

 

[dark_lord69]

[citation][nom]borisof007[/nom]WOW, she shares my last name! Not often I see another Furlong[/citation]
Funny, "Mark Furlong" is the CEO of M&I Bank. (I'm guessing there is no relation though)

 

[eyeklops]

I wonder when they will start firing people over an "objectionable" friends list. Say you work for Apple, but your likes, friends, and other things always talk about how good Microsoft and /or Microsoft products are.

 

[borisof007]

No relation to Mark, however Edward Furlong is my brother, he's just not the actor : )