Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

As a line manager can I demand to see someone's Facebook pages?

277 replies

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 21/02/2009 19:31

Because someone who works with me took three days off recently due to "a stomach bug".

I've been told her Facebook pages say she went away for a few days and got pissed with her friends.

Assuming she doesn't own up when I confront her, can I insist on seeing her Facebook pages? If there's no such stuff on there, why would she hide it?

What do you think?

OP posts:
thritbies · 21/02/2009 23:16

MMOC I understand, how frustrating! I am FB friends with the young girl who works with my mum. My mum has been off on holiday this week, and I told her that said girl has been off sick- only so my mum knows what she is walking into as there will have been no one in the office all week- also this girl is off on leave this week coming! She rarely does a full week for one reason or another.

Agree with expat- this person will eventually trip themselves up or receive karmic justice Not nice for you to deal with though.

Califrau · 21/02/2009 23:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Qally · 21/02/2009 23:42

She's been a cheeky cow, but no, you can't IMO.

If your IT dep't can say she has been using fb outside breaks then she has no right to privacy in law, I don't think; unless the law has changed, an employer is allowed to monitor internet use in working time inc. personal emails and social networking sites. Morally, though, I think demanding to see her fb is even worse than her pulling a sicky, because she is an employee and you represent the employer. It's an imbalanced relationship in terms of power. And her fb could have a lot of personal stuff on completely unrelated to work, which she just doesn't want you to see, quite justifiably.

If she's prone to this sort of nonsense it's not worth worrying about this single occasion. She'll provide plenty more opportunities to hang herself, given sufficient rope.

unknownrebelbang · 21/02/2009 23:54

Does she use her fb a/c whilst at work?

My organisation - also public sector - can monitor any IT usage, and has done so, where there has been an issue (not directly related to FB, more general internet usage).

more · 22/02/2009 09:42

I don't care if you have heard it before. You can't ask to see her Facebook.

Ask yourself why you want to anyway. Do you just not like this person as an individual?

My manager does not like my personality. I have been pulled in to have chats with her a few times now, nothing work related, she is trying to tell me that my personality is no good for her team. Yet I get along with everyone else in the team. She does not like the fact that I don't share every single detail from my life with her. She is constantly looking over my shoulder, checking my work to see what I am doing. Every meeting I have had with her, she has had no complaints about my work, only who I am as a person. So yes I take some sick days some times, when it just gets too much with her not being able to keep her need for being a control freak to a minimum, and when she keeps trying to stir things up, playing colleagues out against eachother.

Try to think about the facts. Are you basing your suspicions on gossip or on something "real"?

foxytocin · 22/02/2009 10:13

you are being unreasonable to insist due to right to privacy. however, i am sure there are more creative ways for the incriminating evidence can reach you without confronting her directly. you'll just need to think outside the box a little to get it.

off to see if you have already thought of a way.

GivePeasAChance · 22/02/2009 10:25

You may want to consider why her sickness record is so bad.

The environment in which people work is strongly related to sickness records. The commitment to an organisation is reduced when the treatment is poor - perhaps where there is a hierarchical and over demanding and over directive structure.

Not excusing her taking a sickie..........but it's a 2 way street.

foxytocin · 22/02/2009 10:26

yeah, you've already got good advice including what kerrymumbles said in her first post.

see eventhough she is pissing on taxpayers' money, we need creative managers to get her to incriminate herself or the next best thing, a 'mate' to provide you with the evidence.

charmargot · 22/02/2009 10:34

would you insist on reading someone's diary?
Doubt it!
Facebook is shared with friends though so if you've been told she was away can't you tell her this and ask her if she can explain how you heard this rumour?
Why not go round with flowers next time she's "ill" then you'd be within your rights and you'd find out.
Really you should be asking someone in HR or a union rep, not Mumsnet. You have to be very careful in employment rights etc. Doesn't really matter what we think is reasonable, it's what an employment tribunal thinks is reasonable.

namechangeddisciplinarian · 22/02/2009 10:42

Although you can't demand to see the facebook pages, those who think that facebook is private and has no bearing on your employers are totally wrong.

While you can't ask to see them, if you can get someone to print them for you/show you them from their facebook account, you can use the evidence as part of the disciplinary process.

Without going into any detail, I know someone who is currently a part of a disciplinary because of things written on their facebook. They were not asked to show the pages, but someone else showed the pages and this is considered sufficient evidence for a disciplinary. Moreover, the individual has been ordered, as part of the disciplinary process, to remove the offending comments from their facebook, and failure to do so may result in their dismissal.

Op you can't ask to see her pages. But you can ask someone else if they would sow them to you, especially if someone has come to you saying that she's been posting she's been going out and getting pissed while on the sick.

To all the rest, facebook really isn't as private as people like to think, and it's worth remembering that anything you put on facebook is there in black and white for potentially anyone to see.

foxytocin · 22/02/2009 11:48

i don't think anyone is really under the impression that Facebook is private. Just that it is a privacy issue and you can't make someone show you their Facebook pages.

hell, i don't use FB precisely because i don't want anyone to forward my stuff to heaven knows who to have a neb.

Nighbynight · 22/02/2009 11:59

I am shocked that people are being so harsh on the OP.

situation is very likely that the employee in question is defrauding her employer...according the MMOC, taxpayers are picking up the bill. Nice.

MMOC asked a perfectly reasonable question - not everybody is as clued up about Facebook as others, she was seeking INFORMATION! I certainly don't know how private it is, and there have been plenty of stories in the press about people being tripped up by facebook, which suggests that it's easy to see what people are posting on there despite the privacy settings.
you may not like it, but people's pay/promotion prospects ARE affected if they write stuff about their work and post it on the internet.

"nobody likes a grass" for goodness sake grow up, whoever said that.

StealthPolarBear · 22/02/2009 12:06

I agree you can't demand to see her FB pages (but I think you know that now ) but you can ask you know
Am amazed at the people on here having a go at you, when if she has done what she is accused of, she deserves absolutely no sympathy!
BTW where I work we ask people to call in every morning they are off...don't suppose she did anything like that?

StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 22/02/2009 12:17

If people take excessive days off sick its normally 'cos they're not happy in their job.

I haven't had a day off sick in 4 years but in my previous job where I was very bored, unmotivated, not stretched, terrible team, etc I had loads of time off sick. Any slight niggle, headache and I rang in sick as I hated my job so much.

Nighbynight · 22/02/2009 12:20

I believe it's not uncommon for your employer to visit you at home when you're sick in germany. have no personal experience of this, but have heard that it happens.
could you do this if you suspect that she is taking the piss?
the teachers did come and visit dd one time though, when they suspected she was not really sick - they were right!! (I was at work, she had rung herself in sick lol. The first and last time that happened.)

StealthPolarBear · 22/02/2009 12:31

StripeyKnickers, I agree that excessive sick leave can indicate stress or unhappiness, but if she is boasting about her drunked antics on FB then that indicates to me that she did it because she thought she'd get away with it. And because she wanted to.

StealthPolarBear · 22/02/2009 12:31

I meant drunken - sorry

sandcastles · 22/02/2009 12:34

I think as a person in authority you have to trust that she had a tummy bug. BY asking her to prove it to you, you are putting youself in a difficult position.

Unless you have proff that she was out clubbing/drinking etc, by that I mean that YOU saw her, then you have to take her word for it.

If she is having excessive time off 'sick' then you need a drs note for each time.

minxofmancunia · 22/02/2009 12:39

YABVVVVVVU awful infact.

If you were my manager I'd be contacting the union and thinking about taking a grievance out against you.

What you're suggesting borders on workplace bullying.

Ask your manager to go on a leadership course so you can understand this kind of thing ISN'T ok.

Or get another job, thank God I don't work for you, have had 1 nightmare line manager like this in my time, luckily anough of us got together and been sucessful with our harrassment case.

Have worked as a line manager too in the NHS so know how it is. The NHS takes the p**s out of their employess IMO don't blame people for taking their allocation.

Podrick · 22/02/2009 12:39

It might be more useful to check that she adhered to the sickness absence policy and give her a return to work interview.

PuddingChops · 22/02/2009 12:44

Someone else here who cannot believe some of the comments being directed at the op. The employee is TTP.

Littlefish · 22/02/2009 12:48

Minx - your post is really unnecessarily harsh (and rude to the OP). Posting things like "thank god I don't work for you" is a personal attack. I think you owe the OP an apology.

Nighbynight · 22/02/2009 12:55

rubbish, minx

"taking their allocation" - of sick days, do you mean?
that is a dreadful me, me, me attitude.

flaminhell · 22/02/2009 13:00

No you cant, dont worry about it she will trip herself up, shes obviously not very bright

PuddingChops · 22/02/2009 13:01

WTF is this 'allocation' of sick days???