Facebook warning after woman sacked
Monday 24th August 2009, 2:56PM BST.
Data Protection Commissioner Emma Martins.
A TEENAGE worker in Jersey has been sacked after making negative comments about her boss and employers on the social networking site Facebook.
The JEP has learned that the girl’s employers saw the posting, which was said to contain ‘disparaging remarks’ and asked her to leave.
The Island’s Data Protection Commissioner is now advising people to take care when posting comment and information on sites such as Facebook.
Emma Martins said that her office had received two complaints – not from the targets of online abuse but employees upset that their bosses have used information about them gleaned from the internet.
She added that some people are not getting jobs because of what potential employers have accessed.
• See Monday’s JEP for full story.
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What’s wrong with people?
If you want to bad mouth your employer on a public website then you deserve to lose your job. At a time when unemployment is high should it not be in your own personal interest to maintain a good level of trust between yourself and your employer?
I’m glad that the company had the guts to get rid of her. I’m sure if she had seen a comment bad mouthing her on facebook (or even if she sees my comment here) she would be annoyed and would want to do something about it. Serves her right, and let’s please make sure she is not entitled to claim benefits for losing her job out of her own irresponsibility
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Put it this way, if you have sense you wont put anything onto the internet, writen or picture. If you do then you only have yourself to blame. In this day and age if you put info about yourself on a social networking site talking about drink, drugs, party life and other ways you get your kicks, or just slagging your work or boss off then you have only yourself to blame. The way people splat there whole lives out on the web is so silly and sorry to say this, dumb. It doesn’t take much for the scammers, bosses and police to check everything out, they do, we just dont realise it. So the more info you put about yourself the more you could loose!
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To the teenager who was sacked.
Where the boss is concerned…
ALWAYS think about what you say and NEVER say what you think…..especially on facebook!
Better luck in your next job darling, but remember a little respect goes a long way!
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Silly Cow
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I wouldn’t employ anyone who watches Big Brother etc. Leave alone a Facebook twitterer.
Mind you, no one would give me a job after some of the views I’ve expressed on here!
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The only thing that will happen next is that it could escalate. If I was sacked for putting something on the Net I would probably carry on bad mouthing them. Its a double edged sword.
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R B Bougourd,
You probably won’t have much of an employee pool then since 250 million people actively use Facebook.
Don’t brand every user of those sites the same way as one person who made a silly mistake.
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The loss of a job is the least of it. Anyone who publishes defamatory statements or continues to do so after being dismissed might find themselves being sued for damages.
The web is a wonderful thing but it is, sadly, all too easy to abuse it for irresponsible, malicious or otherwise unlawful purposes
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It seems a little contradictory to me to join Facebook, post photographs, e-mail addresses and your phone number and then complain about your privacy being breached.
Joining Facebook was the worst mistake I ever made. People are faceless on there and you never know who you’re speaking too – even if you don’t say anything bad about your boss what if (s)he sees you drunk and mad with it in a photo on a week night? Or sees a pic of you on the beach the day you called in sick? etc. etc.
The answer is simple however, give people your e-mail and phone number and if they want to speak to you, they can, don’t use social networking sites!
NJ.
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Whilst I can understand people using Facebook to keep in contact with friends who are overseas it baffles me that people want to put personal and intimate information on a site that can be seen by just about anyone.But then I also cannot understand why anyone would want to go on TV and air their personal problems in front of an audience and yet they do!It seems to be the “in” thing to have no dignity,common sense or respect for yourself.I would say that the person who was sacked in this story has only herself to blame.
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What a silly girl. Deserved!
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You can set your level of privacy on social networking sites such as facebook so that certain people only see what you want them to, and unless you are dumb enough to leave your profile wide open then no-one that isn’t an authorised ‘friend’ can see anything other than a picture. If you are going to use the site, at least have the sense to learn how to work it properly!
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Hmm, I’m not sure about this one.
I think it depends on what she said and how specific she was about it. If she used her Manager’s and Company’s actual name, then that was a bit silly, but if she just put something in her status like “My Boss is useless/horrible” then surely she is entitled to that opinion.
Also, before Anna pointed it out, I had no idea that anybody who wasn’t your Friend on Facebook could actually access any of your information other than see your profile picture. I’d better check my settings.
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How stupid can you be!
The worse thing about they complained that the employers were looking at their facebook for information. How thick are they.
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Best be careful you don’t leave any incriminating evidence on your profiles folks….no doubt this is the future of policing instead of walking the beat.
Big Brother is watching too…..
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It would also be a good idea for teenagers to check their email addresses when submitting b=job applications. plasteredeverynight@hotmail.com does nothing for credibility!
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Perhaps you don’t know how right you are B S Deluxe… the only way truly to safeguard your private information is not to use social networking sites – I know that prospective employers certainly aren’t above looking up new applicants on Facebook – so at the very least it’s probably best not to have a profile picture where you’re half drunk and vomiting…
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golden rule of the internet: dont put anything on the internet you wouldn’t put on a post card
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I have a little poem (“What I wrote” so no nicking it) which might be useful reading for this young lady:
The Web (Arachnophobia!)
Here we are
Like busy flies
Ruining
Our once
Good eyes
Surfing on
The Internet
How Nautical
Can we all get?
Like fish upon
The running tide
Join the shoal
Enjoy the ride
Shame we’re really
All inside?
Never mind
There’s Online dating
Only don’t meet up
You’ll end up mating!
Girl in New York
Dates man from Tibet
How International
Can we get?
No we don’t
Control your thought.
Do you really need
What you just bought?
Tell us all
Your likes and dreads
Your inner thoughts
What’s in your heads!
Maybe we should
Walk the dog?
No let’s just stay in
And update our Blog.
What else would we do
With the time we fritter?
If nothing else
We can always Twitter!
It’s all so free!
But here’s the rider
Centre Web?
There, waits
The Spider!
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Nice poem, Nick, especially the punch line!
What’s more, you managed to keep to your traditional style – maximising the number of lines!
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The moral of this particular tale tale is that an employee’s obligation to his employer clearly does not end when the working day is over.
The only beneficial aspect of ‘websites’ such as Facebook is the opportunity they afford companies to monitor the attitudes and behaviour of their staff, allowing them to identify and when necessary eliminate potentially unproductive and disruptive elements.
Indeed it would do no harm at all for the island’s workforce to see themselves not so much as autonomous individuals in the labour market, but rather as the property of their employers – no different to the machinery and office furniture at their place of work.
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Quite right Proud Jerseyman, hence the rather sinister term – Human Resources. Ouch. NJ.
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To be honest it is her fault also those poeple who wonder why people go onto the website and then criticise them, please be quite as you have no understanding of the advantadges and benifits of using the website, organising events receiving updates in subjects or events that interest you, holiday pics or pictures are more easily accessable to you or your friends not to mention communicating to each other, instead of making a hundred telephone calls you post 1 message on facebook and wait for responses.
The simple rule is dont add family and work colleagues, only freinds. if she had sticked to this she would still have a job she hates and still think the boss fancied her.
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Yes, sorry R B Bougourd, the original comes in the shape of a Web, hence the short lines.Sadly that was not possible here.
The original idea came from reading the key terms attached to all Microsoft software packages,quite an eye opener!
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JPSpecial, maybe she was like fired because she didn’t like proof read her like messages and maybe because she didn’t like use any punctuation and because her colleagues couldn’t understand what she was like saying because she kept saying “and I was like” all the time and I’m SO like going to pass out because I’m running out of brea……….THUD…..
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In my view, she has got exactly what she deserved because people should realise that Facebook is a public website. Unless you specifically set it not to do so, it’ll display your page on Google’s search results for your name, along with whatever info you’ve set to share publically. The age of instant electronic information is all encompassing…
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Don’t use facebook to disclose personal opinions about other people…and if you do, DON’T ADD YOUR ****ING BOSS as a friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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From the comments here it seems people don’t have much sympathy for this girl and I’m sadly inclined to agree – that said even those people who believe they take reasonable precautions in their use of Facebook are still leaving themselves open to harm.
By this I mean that even if you set your profile to private and only share contact details with people you know, it is still all too easy for someone to assume your identity or falsely accuse you of saying things you didn’t, or to view compromising photographs of you put up by other people.
The risks in my opinion outweigh the advantages. If you want to share photos, arrange to meet up with people or discuss issues, you can do that via e-mail or heaven forfend, pick up the phone! NJ.
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Nathan Jordan,
It is probably not even a good idea to use your real name on here!
Nothing you have ever written on here would jeopardise your career, but some of the others…
Fortunately I am well and truly unemployable so I can say more or less whatever I want, short of getting myself P.N.G.’d by Special Branch at the harbour.
A quick Google of a name by an employer could lead them directly to twaddle spouted by their employee on “You Say”!
Next thing is they would look to see whose time the posting was made in.
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Nathan, you make some very good points. Thing is that you’re not in any real danger if you understand that there is an element of public access to such sites and if you choose your friends very carefully. I can absolutely trust every single person I have as a Facebook friend but I know many who add people that they clearly should not be trusting. People need to be a little more sensible about who they let have access to information about them period! Maybe it’s best to use the rule “don’t add anyone you couldn’t dish some dirt on”
#29, that’s why it’s definitely best to be self-employed or have sensible, intelligent bosses. Unfortunately we live in a stupid world where some folk can’t separate the person from their opinions. Some people cannot be friends with someone that disagrees with them on certain matters, yet what really matters is not what you agree/disagree on but whether or not you are a kind person. I have little interest in people who can’t be friends with anyone who disagrees with them from time to time cause it’s rather childish, we’re all unique after all. The world thrives on differences of opinion.
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A word of advice to thouse who like to slag off their employers in public.
Many years ago, I worked for a local company amd I did not always see eye to eye with my boss. Rather than bad mouth him in public, and we certainly had our run ins on a few occaions, I decided after a time to move on to pastures new.
A couple of years passed, and my ex boss phoned me up and asked me to pop in for a chat. He accepted that I had had my frustrations working for the organisation, but there was a position to be filled, and having considered my strenths, and experience that I had gained in my subsequent employment, he enquired if I would consider re-joining his firm. There was even talk of a company car, and many of the issues which had resulted in me originally leaving had been resolved.
By this time, other opportunities were opening up for me, and I declined his offer. However, I very much appreciated the fact that he apporached me in the first place.
Jersey is a very small island, and if you bad mouth your boss on Facebook, it gets even smaller !!!
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