To report this person to their employer for hate speech?

[NickMyLipple]

I've attached a screenshot - I am not friends with this person. She does however display her work on social media and she is in her uniform with her lanyard on display in her profile picture and in other photos which are accessible to the public.

It's NHS Values Week and I feel very strongly that if you're going to publically display your workplace you need to be responsible in not making such racist and hateful comments.

I called her out on it and the post has now been deleted.

AIBU to call the HR department and complain, or should I leave it and hope that she thinks carefully before she posts in future?

I do think that people who work in jobs dealing with the public like teachers ,nurses and do on should be accountable for their social media use.

The NHS trust I previously worked at were strict about what was shared on social media! Her comment would have been unacceptable

I was going to further comment but instead thought I’d copy what previous posters have said, as they have managed to articulate my views far better than I could:

All those saying it doesn’t affect her job, if she can say something like that in public she will definitely have a bias in her work

There's just been a report demonstrating that racism on the part of HCPs is contributing to the increased death toll in BAME Covid patients.

The NHS terms on social media are crystal fucking clear.

“Respect your audience. Don't use personal insults, obscenities, or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in the workplace. You should also show proper consideration for others' privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory, such as politics and religion; Be aware of your association with NHS England when using online social networks. If you identify yourself, or are identifiable, as an employee of the organisation, ensure your profile and related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself to colleagues and stakeholders.”

^Taken from
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/social-media-policy.pdf

Well that's fairly unambiguous....

Yes report her. Ignore the people here crying about her right to be racist. If those are her attitudes what about her colleagues and patients? It's genuinely worrying.
And I am usually against 'reporting '...
Could we stop using that word though please?

Report! Almost certainly against any social media policy.

Yes, people are still allowed opinions - 'do you prefer tea or coffee?', not 'do you think this person deserves to be treated like a human being?'

Yes report her, we shouldn't go on as a society minimising this sort of behaviour.

Being an anti-racist means sometimes you do need to complain to her employer. A racist working for the NHS is likely to cause a lot of harm, so if I were you I would do it.

Really? You haven’t seen post after post saying we’re all entitled to our opinions

Ok you are mis-reading or trying to deflect. You said LOTS of people thought what she said wasn't that bad. Those are the comments I asked for and I see you have not produced them. Hmmm. No one, literally no one said that.

Many people did suggest they felt uncomfortable living in what would amount to a police state, if everyone had to be wary of their speech being monitored. So yes, I think a lot of people DID make comments suggesting that trying to get someone fired for a fb post was a little OTT.

People have said: she was spoken to, deleted the comment, ok. Going further than that is going too far.

Be a good person. Improve the community through your actions. Do not harm other people. These are words to live by. All you "report her ass" people...let those who have not sinned throw the first stone.

@FleetsumNJetsum

Really? You haven’t seen post after post saying we’re all entitled to our opinions

Ok you are mis-reading or trying to deflect. You said LOTS of people thought what she said wasn't that bad. Those are the comments I asked for and I see you have not produced them. Hmmm. No one, literally no one said that.

Many people did suggest they felt uncomfortable living in what would amount to a police state, if everyone had to be wary of their speech being monitored. So yes, I think a lot of people DID make comments suggesting that trying to get someone fired for a fb post was a little OTT.

People have said: she was spoken to, deleted the comment, ok. Going further than that is going too far.

Be a good person. Improve the community through your actions. Do not harm other people. These are words to live by. All you "report her ass" people...let those who have not sinned throw the first stone.

I agree

'Let those without sin cast the first stone' what mealy mouthed C of E rot.

You said LOTS of people thought what she said wasn't that bad. Those are the comments I asked for and I see you have not produced them. Hmmm. No one, literally no one said that.

So what you’re saying is it only counts if I can quote it verbatim? ‘Literally no one said that’, you claim. Well you’re right on the ‘literally’ - you just put it in the wrong place in the sentence.

Well she comes across as racist (to think that) & stupid (publicise her views). I would report but wouldn't like her to lose her job as I don't think that helps anyone.

I think it would help quite a lot of people if she lost her job tbh. Her colleagues and patients for a start

’Let those without sin cast the first stone' what mealy mouthed C of E rot.

Exactly. If we’re saying literally only people who’ve led 100% blameless lives can ever question someone else’s behaviour, good luck with ever seeing another crime reported.

I'd report in a heartbeat.

. All you "report her ass" people...let those who have not sinned throw the first stone.
Out of curiosity, do you apply that maxim universally throughout life, or just with respect to racist hate speech?

I’m a health care worker and inappropriate social media use (such as racist comments) is banned by the code of conduct I chose to sign on commencing employment.

Nothing to do with ‘cancel culture’, it’s a simple term of my employment.

Those who think that the racism of healthcare workers has nothing to do with their jobs are ignorant. There is a wealth of evidence as to the effect on medical treatment of the biases of health care workers. Racism affects patient care and as a result is entirely unacceptable.

This is really not hard to grasp.

Improve the community through your actions

Ummm ... reporting her would be doing just that.

@destroyed I would rather she was educated & learnt from it. Obviously if she was found to be racist in the work environment there would be company policies & procedures in place to deal with that v

Disgusted by the number of people on here describing racism as an "opinion", claiming that reporting hate speech is "totalitarian"/somehow a violation of "free speech" and equating freedom of thought with freedom to "say what you want" on any platform you want, even when representing your workplace. If the person who made that comment would have her life ruined by that comment getting out, she should have thought about that before she posted it. Just to reiterate, racism is NOT an opinion, political or otherwise.

Also, it is unlikely she would be fired anyway - it would be a disciplinary issue, the point of disciplinaries is supposed to be to educate and prevent those actions from happening again. Not sure how people think she will learn from this incident when nothing came of it exactly (not to say she should be fired, but like I said that would be highly unlikely anyway).

Freedom of thought and speech is one of the most important elements of a liberal democracy. Without it people could never have spoken out with opinions which now are mainstream and lauded, and used to be considered offensive.

Once you start tying speech to employment, you effectively create a way to control speech and free exchange of thought which is actually important to refuting bad ideas as well as promoting good ones.

I don't think directive that say people aren't allowed to say what they want should be allowed in all but a few very specific cases, so I really don't care what the NHS rule on this is. What should be allowed is that private individuals be asked to refrain from linking their job status on their social media in a direct way.

I think calling her out on it is enough at this stage. Did you suggest she reviews her works code of conduct also?

I think education is the way to go. People need to know about their code of conduct for their profession and need to be aware of the potential ramifications of voicing opinions in public.

So much has changed. Years ago I remember being advised to always say no comment when asked about something work related by a reporter. Now media has entered our lives in a more intimate way people need to be educated to say no comment of all things political or work related.

What I find peculiar on here is that people seem offended by the idea of someone losing their job for being a racist. That’s weird to me. Why would I want a racist to still have a job, especially one that deals in caring for the public medically??

I think what’s freaking out a lot of posters is that they subconsciously realize it could be one of their own family members doing this and potentially losing a job. Especially those of a certain age. Where as people used to just put up with the racist comments, they’re now fed up several hundred years of that and want some useful outcomes.

BTW, for the most part “education” and “dialogue” doesn’t really work with loads of racists. Take that advice from the people who have been subject to racism for a long time. We’ve tried that. That shit didn’t work. Low grade to high grade racists just end up smirking taking responsibility for their actions until forced to do it. Ex: the toppling of the statue in Bristol recently. Campaigners had been going at it with the city authorities for 30 fucking years. How much talking and kind education do you think went on during that time?

Time’s up. (Remember that phrase, MN “feminists”?) You’ve had your chance(s). Don’t want want to get disciplined or fired for being a racist and harming others? Simple: don’t be fucking racist and don’t mildly enable racism. :)