Social media: employee's posts sink chances of reinstatement
After a particularly bad day at work, it’s tempting to let off steam on social media.
But, as a steady stream of cases is showing, such posting in anger is bad for employment prospects.
In one of the latest cases, the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) determined that even if it had found an employee was unfairly dismissed, his Facebook posts calling his employer a "bastard" and "criminal", after the dismissal, would have ruled out reinstatement.
The case involved an employee of the NSW State Transit Authority who was dismissed for removing lost property without authority and failing to ensure he had removed the correct items. The IRC’s Commissioner Newell said that that the STA’s action was “disproportionate and inappropriate”.
But the Commissioner said that the employee’s subsequent behaviour justified dismissal and prevented reinstatement.
First of all, he had not been completely truthful with the employer about the incident.
And then to make matter worse, he had, after his dismissal, made two posts on his Facebook page that remained visible for months.
The first named his employer's general manager of fleet operations and the officer who investigated his conduct and the second criticised the STA as "bastards" and "they are really criminal with stars".
Not even the most “elastic” approach to an employment contract could survive that, Commissioner Newell said as he dismissed the reinstatement claim.
Moral: think before you post.
Source: Workplace Express
