Is this GDPR breach

[Harass3d]

A complaint has been lodged with my employer about a comment I made on social media (not upheld!). This complaint has come from the head teacher at my son's school and he has identified himself as such (fine) but then goes on to identify me as a parent (which has no relevance to his complaint) am I right in thinking this is a breach of GDPR? It is no business of my employers where my son goes to school.

If my memory serves me correctly (I did some legal training for my job decades ago) with libel the onus is on the defendant to prove that the statement they made is true. So OP would have to produce concrete evidence to back up her opinion that the headteacher is indeed useless. If she can, she could use a fair comment defence.

It is different. If over 100 people had commented - it is more like standing in the pub with a megaphone shouting out abuse about the head teacher.

This thread is a prime example of WHY cyber safe training should be a priority in every school in the land. It’s also WHY young people get into so much trouble as they don’t have competent adults to guide them.

Posting in a private group or chat. Be it SM, WhatsApp, messenger, whatever. Does not exempt you from the laws surrounding libel nor the criminal matter of malicious communications. The fact people think that, explains half of the problem in society right now.

Op hasn’t given the full story here. We have one side with drips of information. No-one can categorically say she hasn’t fallen foul of libel or malicious communications. No-one can say she has. However, someone took umbrage enough to report the op. Remember kids, a screen shot takes seconds. Once it’s out there - it’s out there. Private chats or not. So there is at least one person that was offended enough to report op to the head.

Without the full story and the exact comments made about the head and the school. No-one can categorically say op hasn’t opened herself up to legal action herself. Judging by the comments I see aimed at schools and teachers - many fall foul of the law. People don’t think before they type on social media.

"You don't escalate like to a parent's employer unless it was a full blown professional character assassination or it wasn't the first time she'd posted about him."

Some people do just to cause problems for the person.

The word "useless" is a very subjective term. it is a meaningless insult and almost impossible to quantify,

Good luck trying to make sense of that in a court room.

I’d contact IOC as per details upthread. In my experience they love a complaint and will look into it.

Thanks. I think it varies by country, which is why I couldn't remember who has the burden of proof. And the whole Johnny Depp trial...

also WHY young people get into so much trouble as they don’t have competent adults to guide them.

yes, I have to say, the OP isn't exactly coming across as the competent adult in this situation.

ETA, and let's remind ourselves that libel cases tend to be fought by people with time on their hands and very very deep pockets, and because they believe there is an awful lot at stake, sufficient to burn through ££££ / $$$$ like Monopoly money.

But teachers are held to really strict professional standards, far stricter than the majority of professions. To escalate a complaint just to cause problems for a parent you don't like would be kamikaze. That's why it feels like there's more to it, like this not being the first time OP's slagged him off online.

It has to work that way doesn't it? If X say Y had sex with a pig, then it hardly seems fair that Y should that he didn't, X has to prove they made the statement based on true. In this case the OP would need to prove the Head teacher was useless or what ever statement she made about him

If the school have your works telephone number to contact you in case of emergency then it's very easy to work out who you work for.

So I'm not convinced of GDPR breach

You are being harassed, defamed and victimised for advocating for your son. That is the real problem here. You can report him to the GTCS as this is a serious abuse of power as well as discrimination.

Contact your MSP or MP about this.

There’s more to this than OP’s letting on.

My work are not upholding it which is fine but I am not happy that it came in the first place and there are A LOT of false claims made against me which I need to address.

Well the Head decided to write a letter to the OP's employer to prompt the employer to take action against their employee with a worst possible outcome of removing the OP from her role.

So somewhere in the school there is a record of the SM post the OP' name and the OP's employer and their address.

I would hope that the Head did a little fact checking before sending out such a letter to a third party who is the OP's source of income and providing money for Harass3d child in their care . So I would expect that there is some documented link between both files. In that case the data about the OP should be disclosed under the Harass3d SAR and also under her sons SAR. The school should idealy be checking if they need to remove her sons name from Harass3d SAR and her name from his SAR.

There may not be a link which is why I suggested the OP submit a SAR to the school. (But in that case the school is spending time on one crappy SM post by a random stranger; which would be very strange choice on the use of resources)

But from what the OP's has said the Head has clearly stated to her employer that the OP has a child in the school. So from a GDPR stand point unless the Head has been very careful in how the data was processed it part of the sons school record.

And that would still be a GDPR breach. Personally identifiable information includes information you use with other information to identify an individual. You can’t just use the personal information for any reason whatsoever. There is no lawful basis here for using the OP’s personal information.

You clearly work in a role or a sector where the Nolan principles would apply.

You appear to be blaming the HT but also state that at one point the post had over 100 comments - that doesn't sound like a private post to me.

Your son's school is not personal identifiable data so I don't think disclosing this would be considered a GDPR breach in any event. The only breach might be if the HT used school records to find your details although I'd say that they'd have cause to say they accessed the data with a legitimate aim.

A social media lesson OP. FWIW I was hauled over the coals a few years back for making a disparaging remark about our prime minister (that I stand by!) as I work in an executive level position in a publicly funded organisation. I had to suck it up and felt very smug when it came about lockdown parties and I was vindicated

Oh a million percent.

If he knew your name from the post you made he could easily have found out your employer by googling or searching LinkedIn. So there may not have been a breech but I’d raise it with the Board of Governors and ask them to investigate.

And yet, it's the other way around in some countries.
What if there's a photo of them with the pig? One person comes to mind.

Do you remember ever giving your work details to the school?
I work in a school office and we don't have any information on where parents work

I'm very confused. You said you were unhappy with the school in your post (and a post on a "private page" with 110 comments is not what i would define as private). So YOU disclosed that you are a parent at the school.

Finding your info should not be done via the school records I think but even there, I have my doubts because you were saying the head teacher and the school is bad and the head teacher and the school are responding so I'm really not convinced that he can't look up your details.

Of course, a far. better way to address this would be to contact you directly to discuss your concerns. But I'm guessing your comment was pretty strongly worded?

No, I think it would be more likely that they would Google the number and identify the place of employment that way. No need to make any calls! You were the one that suggested that they wound speak to reception etc. Or they could have just Googled the parent’s name and found their place of employment that way. BUT it doesn’t matter how they got it. The headteacher has still used personal data without a lawful ground.

And stop defending the headteacher. Some teachers are unprofessional and behave in a way they should not. It’s the same in any profession.

That is an extreme response from a HT and unhinged behaviour if true. Either he is completely deranged or there's more to this story that's not being said here. If you had issues with the school, why didn't you go directly rather than put it up on a sm post where nothing gets done?

The head is a massive arse and clearly can’t take criticism
your employer had made the right decision

id want to know who the shit stirer was

Some of these responses are ridiculous. Libel and defamation ffs 😂 I know teachers are placed on a pedestal on here and clearly most are dedicated and capable professionals but some are shit and fail the kids they are responsible for educating. I would expect he frequently hears much worse including probably from the kids in the school and he could probably do with developing a thicker skin