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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Fired over facebook

120 replies

scruffybird · 23/06/2011 13:22

I am in an awful position and wonder if any of you knowledgable ladies can help.
I work in a school and am under investigation for writing on facebook about my feelings after a recent school event.
Sorry don't feel I can go into too much detail on here. But I did not name anyone or the school.
I am worried they can get rid of me for gross misconduct and that I will not be able to then get references for my next job.
Any advice?

OP posts:
altinkum · 23/06/2011 15:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

fgaaagh · 23/06/2011 15:13

M0naLisa whilst I'm sure that's ok for your company, in (a good many other organisatons) "i wasn't slagging XYZ off" isn't a defense.

It's enough that you've posted about work, events, colleagues ANYTHING on a public website. It's as simple as that.

I don't think anyone would get reprimanded for posting something like "oh what a lovely day, just had a fantastic meeting with a group who wanted to look through the art proofs before final printing - they were very happy - man i love this job!!" but technically in my contract they could. Because they'd written about work. And the people there / clients!

Whether you agree that's too strict or not. Whether I agree is also beside the point.

I've signed a contract and I have to stick to it.

maypole1 · 23/06/2011 15:14

Knittbread most schools, police, social services have this policy and to be honest to be fair if you want to keep your job having a rant about work whilst people from work are added to you page is a bit silly to say the least.

My bil told me about a guy who got sacked for spouting off about having sex with a co worker they have a no frnatansation policy she was also sacked.

When will people learn

If I were you find out like people have said about your schools policy. Then get off face book, then join a union once its all blown over

To in regards to weather you get sacked it depends what you said and whom about if it was a child or the head then you might be for it I am afraid

Missingfriendsandsad · 23/06/2011 15:24

Ok - you can fire someone for something like this, but usually not fairly unless a) there is a specific facebook/internet policy that specifically states in personal time mentioning something that kind of alludes to being about work is gross misconduct - typically tribunals will find personal use of the internet at work as misconduct, and stuff outside work as irrelevant unless, say it is directly defamatory and deliberately so.

If you have complained about having a hard day I think they would lose at tribunal - might not stop them trying, but they would look like absolute idiots. Case law is pretty clear on this!

From a 'best practice' point of view they are being ridiculous.

What you MUST do now is find as many examples as you can of people at the same school, other schools in the same authority etc blogging or FBing about how they feel, including in newspaper reports, school bulletins and newsletters (eg Miss xxx was tired but happy after taking the kids to alton towers).

Especially senior people, school governers etc. NOT for blackmail but because there is awealth of case law that suggests that if misconduct is generally allowed you can't suddely say 'but not in this case'...

If you can present Governer Y said 'Phew I'm knackered after today', Teacher Z said 'looking forward to this weekend.. really looking forward', teacher D said 'good god some people are petty' etc. and that obviuoulsy this type of 'misconduct' is generally acceptable, you will be on to a win at tribunal.

lionheart · 23/06/2011 15:32

Still talk to your union, even if you are not a member.

Lucyinthepie · 23/06/2011 15:44

You're getting some daft advice on here, but maybe that's because some people don't understand how these things are dealt with in schools. Your school will have some sort of acceptable use policy and you would be bound by it. I know because I deal with issues like this for work, and I clerk disciplinary and appeal hearings in schools.

I believe I am right in saying that even if you are not a member you can still contact the union, so do that now. In the event that you can't get help there then contact ACAS for a chat. Are you suspended? You will be called in for a hearing after the investigation is complete, and you will be entitled to have someone with you, so get in touch with the union to see if they can help. You will be able to see all the evidence they have gathered and have time to consider it and your responses.

One thing I do know is that a school wouldn't take this action just because someone had mentioned on Facebook that they had had a "hard day". This will be involving the school in a lot of work and time spent that could more usefully be used elsewhere, so they don't do this lightly. Which means that trawling the net for examples of other staff, governors etc saying something slightly iffy is likely to be a complete waste of time. In any case, I was at a hearing where a teacher started to say "Well, so and so said this" and the response was simply "Did you report it? If you want to we will investigate it. However, back to you..."

Scruffy - it depends what you said, but you may well get a first warning for this, rather than losing your job.

Lucyinthepie · 23/06/2011 15:45

p.s. Bear in mind people that not all schools come under the remit of a local authority. Scruffy may work in a private school or an academy.

worraliberty · 23/06/2011 15:47

Honestly, it's impossible for anyone here to answer your question because no-one knows if you've broken any rules.

Check your School's E.Policy...this should enable you to work out if you're in trouble or not.

altinkum · 23/06/2011 15:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pumpernickel10 · 23/06/2011 15:52

Scruffy what did you post? If you was taking about a pupil or member of staff then sorry but serves you right

LostMyIdentityAlongTheWay · 23/06/2011 15:53

yes, it totally DOES matter who the employer is - they will have an internet policy and will follow that.

altinkum · 23/06/2011 16:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

garlicnutter · 23/06/2011 16:04

Well before this new-fangled interweb, it was drummed into us at work (private sector) that you must be very careful what you said about your employers & colleagues. Sharing sensitive information, even by accident, has always been a sackable offence.

The fact that it now happens on social media doesn't make it a different offence, it just makes the same one worse: instead of accidentally letting one competitor/investor/customer know, you're deliberately broadcasting it to up to 50% of the UK.

Follow the advice given about the union, Scruffy. Good luck.

Pumpernickel10 · 23/06/2011 16:10

About a month ago on here a so called teacher posted about an incident with a pupil on MN we all crucified her. If your in a job like that you don't come on MN and tell us all about a poor pupil.

vmcd28 · 23/06/2011 16:23

you must be careful what you say about anyone/thing re work - on FB, internet, emails, everything.
But we've all done something we probably shouldnt, so a bit of empathy for the OP might be helpful - she's clearly shitting herself, and is probably very upset.

LostMyIdentityAlongTheWay · 23/06/2011 18:14

alt, sorry, misunderstood there....

LoveBeingAbleToNamechange · 23/06/2011 18:31

Op please repost in employment issues, there are some fab HR bods who can give you some advice.

EvilTwins · 23/06/2011 18:37

I work in a school. We had a round of redundancies about 3 months ago. One very pissed off woman (not a teacher, a member of support staff) was very clear about how she felt. She is FB friends with a number of colleagues and therefore SLT found out about it. She got into a lot of trouble, although she wasn't sacked (had been made redundant anyway, so maybe they thought they'd cut her some slack). I have to say, I was thoroughly unsympathetic - what she wrote was shockingly unprofessional and she deserved the ticking off that she got. She got wind of the situation before the HT called her in, and disappeared (without telling anyone) so she could go home (can't access FB in school) to delete her comments. Too little too late though. As a consequence, we all got a talking to about sensible use of FB, and whilst SLT agreed that they couldn't ban staff from using it, it was made very clear that there were certain expectations and that anyone not following them could expect to be serverely dealt with.

OP, I think you have been very foolish - FB isn't exactly a new thing, and there have been so many stories about people getting into trouble at work because of it. The best you can do, IMO, is to launch damage limitation action asap and be totally up-front with your HT. Don't wait for them to call you in - make an appointment and face up to what you've done.

KaraJS · 23/06/2011 18:49

I know student nurses that were fired over what they wrote about placements they had been on

IloveJudgeJudy · 23/06/2011 18:50

OP, I cannot understand why you would post of Facebook about your place of employment. There have been numerous cases in the press of people being fired for doing such things.

In my DC's secondary school I have personal knowledge of four friends of my 16 yo DS who were suspended for posting derogatory things on FB. I know of another case where there was a FB spat between two 12 yo's that the school were very willing to make an example of, but the victim's mother did not want to go that far.

You are an adult if you are working in a school; you must have some idea that putting anything on FB is a stupid idea. If not, why are you working in a school? I do not understand this obsession with putting your life out there for the whole world to see.

TheOriginalFAB · 23/06/2011 18:53

You haven't been fired yet, just suspended.

mrsbiscuits · 23/06/2011 19:03

As pp's have said it really depends on what you wrote and how far you breached the policy that your school has in place regarding internet use as to the severity of your reprimand. Personally speaking, as both an HR Manager and a School Governor, I consider anyone who discusses work related issues on any forum/social networking site as extremely foolish and unprofessional. Even if you didn't identify the school or named names,by virtue of the fact that you are saying it wont take too much working out by others what and who you mean. Privacy settings mean diddly squat if your friends pages are open to all and sundry and can your really trust everyone who befriends you to keep schtum about your daily whinges.

You will now need to take the consequences. Make sure that if you haven't already you read your terms and conditions/handbook so that you are as well versed in what the rules are as your employers and even if you don't belong to union you are entitled to take a union rep ( or work colleague) to any hearing that maybe arranged to hear your explanation for your actions. As others have said honesty really is the best policy here, if all you were doing was having a moan and venting frustration then say so, there is nothing more infuriating and transparent as someone trying to concoct some story or make some excuse after the event to try and get out of trouble.

At least one thing's for sure you won't make the same mistake again and as long as you don't get in too much trouble this time round it might actually have been a wake up call worth having.

magicstick · 23/06/2011 19:05

I work in a school and we were recently given a letter stating that things that you say on facebook can and have been used to sack people.

manticlimactic · 23/06/2011 19:08

So you can't even write what a shite day you've had even if you don't allude to what, who or where it is about?

veritythebrave · 23/06/2011 19:13

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