Firing Over Facebook Might Be Coming To An End

Employers might not be able to fire people because of social media.

"Be careful what you post online" is something that job seekers hear all the time. No matter who you are, it's just good advice. Employers, clients and other people with whom you have professional relationships can easily find your Facebook page or follow you on Twitter. Questionable posts can be taken out of context and people can make negative judgements about who you are based on it. In fact, many people have even been fired because of a careless status update.

Many of us have been very concerned about the privacy issues around social media. For one thing, just because you are an employee doesn't mean that you don't have a life outside of work. The question is, at what point do you stop being an employee and start being just a person? Decades ago, it was pretty easy. When you left your office, you were on your own time. These days, the lines are blurred. If your physician post pictures of himself getting drunk on a cruise right after your appointment was cancelled because of a death in the doctor's family, you might question their professional ethics and wonder if they will be drunk at your appointment. Of course, there is no way for you to know that the docotor actually had a death in their family and during the wake, they got back in touch with extended family and friends. Then, the family member requested them on Facebook and shared some photos that had been taken on a cruise the year before. None of that matters when it comes to social media. You don't get the back story, all you get is a status update in your News Feed.

This is why many people think that firing employees because of things they post on their Facebook page is just not fair. And, the legal systems seems to be agreeing with them.

Recently, 5 employees were fired for joining into a conversation that involved complaints against their boss and a co-worker. Their employer said that their conduct was harassment and immediately teminated their employment.

These workers felt that their rights had been violated, and based on the success of other people in similar situations, they decided to take their complaints to the National Labor Relations Board. After the NLRB judge heard the case and looked into past cases, the judge decided that all 5 of the employees must be hired back. The judge said that the employees speech was protected and that it was well within the bounds of normal discussion about the workplace and workplace conditions. The labor laws consider any speech that could happen at a water cooler or on a break, that complain about the workplace to be protected. This ruling shows that when the protected speech is moved onto a platform like Facebook, the protection doesn't change.

This is good new for people who have been fired for saying that they are bored at work on their page or who have started conversations complaining about a co-worker. And, it's about time. For most of us, at least, we know that there are many things that you shouldn't post on social networking sites. That being said, there is a point where your employer shouldn't be able to hold things against you.

Still, it's a good idea to not post anything questionable on your Facebook page. Even if you can't get fired for it, it looks bad and makes you seem less professional. Also, there is a chance that even though they can't fire you because of your post, they can find another reason - such as even being on Facebook during work hours.

What do you think about this case? Do you think that people should be fired for what they post online? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

 

 

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for EducationJobsiteBlog and Nexxt. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.