Disciplinary over Tweets - I need a hand hold

[BelgianFudge]

Does anyone have any experience of facing disciplinary over getting into a twitter spat? Nothing to do with the employer, but someone has sent screenshots to them and disciplinary action has been initiated.

Sorry for scant detail but I'm understandably worried about revealing much.

Has he been suspended pending the investigation or is he still working?

Sounds a bit like they want him out if they’ve been gathering evidence with the old Twitter account.

Well, do you have this in writing? Either there are people with spare time on their hands in your husband’s company of someone wants him out.

So keep asking for specifics in writing. Delay any meetings till you get this. Consult with your union and a lawyer. And ask you DH to be calm and friendly but do not apologise for anything!

And please don’t take it personally. Your dh is perfectly within his rights to be arsey in expressing political views in his social space, it is one of the joys of living in a free society!

@Gwenhwyfar

"your DH has been incredibly naive and stupid posting on Twitter not once but twice."

What? Most people post on Twitter hundreds of times.

Don't be pedantic - I meant by posting controversial things on Twitter and potentially verbally abusive.

Well, do you have this in writing?

Yes it is all in writing. The allegation of harrassment by his employer, and the transcript of the interview with his boss saying his colleagues aren't bothered and that DH doesn't express those views at work, and that it doesn't affect his work.

Don't be pedantic - I meant by posting controversial things on Twitter and potentially verbally abusive

Yes, he has done it twice as in got his Twitter acount suspended then did it again.

He hasn't been verbally abusive - not sure where you got that from.

@BelgianFudge

Don't be pedantic - I meant by posting controversial things on Twitter and potentially verbally abusive

Yes, he has done it twice as in got his Twitter acount suspended then did it again.

He hasn't been verbally abusive - not sure where you got that from.

I thought you mentioned he'd been verbally abusive and got into a fight on Twitter with someone? Maybe not considered serious by you?

The problem is Brexit was a very divisive and emotive subject at the time and still is to a certain extent. And if he's constantly posting negative views about Brexit, Boris, the Government it could be Construed as bullying /harassment if he's on his soap box all the bloody time. Most people are sick of hearing about it - and if I'm honest most of the rude, vociferous, aggressive social media posting that I've seen has come from the Remain side and I'd imagine anyone in the Brexit camp would feel harassed for having an alternative political opinion if you DH is shoving political posts down their throats all the time?

Mental health doesn't excuse it really and to be honest sounds like he's playing the sympathy card

@CleverCatty

I’ve read back through the entire post. It’s not clear if he’s still working or suspended pending the investigation.

How does it matter if he was considered verbally abusive? So if some one has a verbal fight in a bar in their personal time with no criminal or civil charges, they can get a disciplinary at work? because someone might have seen it and might have got offended and might impact the company?

No one claims to be perfect and what they do in their personal time is their own business - whether it is getting into personal arguments, cross dressing, or participating in protests or going hunting. Unless it has direct impact on the employer it is none of their business.

I think there was case of a teacher who had a selfie in Facebook in a bikini or something? And her employer had an issue with it? Might be worth checking what happened in that case, I can’t remember. It is madness to have employers act as social modesty police (monitoring your dress or language in your private time) imo.

Ah, this is the one I remembered. It is in the US

www.google.com/amp/s/people.com/celebrity/utah-teacher-who-came-under-fire-for-posting-body-building-bikini-shots/%3Famp%3Dtrue

@Lookingforwardto2021

How does it matter if he was considered verbally abusive? So if some one has a verbal fight in a bar in their personal time with no criminal or civil charges, they can get a disciplinary at work? because someone might have seen it and might have got offended and might impact the company?

No one claims to be perfect and what they do in their personal time is their own business - whether it is getting into personal arguments, cross dressing, or participating in protests or going hunting. Unless it has direct impact on the employer it is none of their business.

Being verbally abusive on a Twitter account (or other social media) and the person who he targeted has somewhat unfairly informed his bosses what he has been up to.

It depends if this was on company time as this would be considered a disciplinary offence. Depending on what the company's employment manual/contract says sometimes things which happen outside company time can be considered cause for disciplinary proceedings.

This is not the first time he has done this either. If it were me, as an employer, I would personally be concerned that he'd say nasty or unwise comments again.

what ivfbeenbusy says is correct - often a lot of people where you work don't want to hear emotive and divisive political views, I think OP said his colleagues had unfollowed him on Twitter but hadn't complained about him when asked.

The employer in this case is probably sick to death of listening or hearing second hand about these rants and then having mental health issues brought into it too - which luckily OP's DH is getting help for, they probably just want them not to create issues - which have involved someone malicious in this case, contacting OP's DH's employer to try to get him into trouble. Most people simply don't do this, get someone else into trouble, unless they've been riled up enough by it.

He’s not in the civil service is he?

@Lookingforwardto2021

How does it matter if he was considered verbally abusive? So if some one has a verbal fight in a bar in their personal time with no criminal or civil charges, they can get a disciplinary at work? because someone might have seen it and might have got offended and might impact the company?

No one claims to be perfect and what they do in their personal time is their own business - whether it is getting into personal arguments, cross dressing, or participating in protests or going hunting. Unless it has direct impact on the employer it is none of their business.

It is very common for employers to expect employees to adhere to certain standards and refrain from certain activities outside the workplace, to avoid their company name being brought into disrepute. In particular social media policies are commonplace and is particularly relevant to this thread. But actually yes, an employee brawling in a bar or the streets in their own time could lead to disciplinary in the workplace if there is a link back to them. Reputational damage is hard to measure but definitely exists and organisations like to protect their reputation.

“But actually yes, an employee brawling in a bar or the streets in their own time could lead to disciplinary in the workplace if there is a link back to them. ”

Do you have examples of this?

And what do you mean by a ‘link back’, eg someone recognised that it was John from payroll at company Uptight?

Does being a dick head in your own time reflect on the company? I don't know

@BelgianFudge

Yes it does. The world is a much smaller place now with social media, camera phones, our entire personal and employment history available at the click of a button on the internet. He can easily be linked back to his employer indirectly - it's bringing the company into disrepute - whilst his political views are not illegal the way he is expressing them is clearly aggressive and therefore reflects poorly on his employer plus he has been warned time and time again to tone it down etc

Pretty sure his social media policy/other company policies will mention about behaviour inside and outside of work

If he wants to get on his soap box then join a remain leaning political party where he can air his views there. There is a right way and a wrong way of doing things

That's why if you are inclined to express yourself that way that it's best you don't have any colleagues or anyone linked to your work on your social media or have 2 accounts - a private personal one and a more open one for networking etc

Oooops 🤦🏼‍♀️ I tagged the wrong person. Sorry Kitty.

OP. I’ve done a bit of Googling. (Takes my mind off real life!) it’s really going to depend on what his company’s social media policy states. Can he get hold of a copy?

@ivfbeenbusy

That's why if you are inclined to express yourself that way that it's best you don't have any colleagues or anyone linked to your work on your social media or have 2 accounts - a private personal one and a more open one for networking etc

His social media was personal - nothing to link him to his work, apart from one tweet (about something positive!) in which he tagged a load of accounts including his work one.

I'm not saying his behaviour was ok - it was not. But he naively believed it was not linked to his work.

OP. I’ve done a bit of Googling. (Takes my mind off real life!) it’s really going to depend on what his company’s social media policy states. Can he get hold of a copy?

Yes he has a copy of it, it's really vague - says he shouldn't bring the company into disrepute. Says nothing about expressing political views.

@BelgianFudge

To be clear - he has never expressed any views against any protected characteristic i.e. he's not bigoted, racist, sexist or anything.

He's just very vocal in his dislike for the government and Brexit. Most of the tweets they have produced as evidence are of him slagging off the PM etc.

If this is a problem they could probably sack 50% of the current population!

What is fair and right is a very long way from what a company can justify doing in most disciplinary proceedings. I have never known a company to start a process like this and for it to end well for the employee. You are to some degree guilty before the process even starts. There is always some kind of punishment / finding against you. The challenge is to mitigate it as much as possible. The social media policy is drawn up in extremely vague terms and that is a problem because it is up to the management to interpret it.

Yes - we are hoping he will get a written warning, he may even get a final written warning. He would be massively relieved with that.

I think dismissal for Gross misconduct would be unfair. The way I see it is if he heard of a colleague being sacked for doing the same, what would he think...? His first instinct is he would think it was absurd.

Harassment under the Equality Act is not the same as harassment in a DV situation where someone is being targeted. Creating a hostile environment can be considered harassment. It would appear that is how they are viewing his conduct.

www.acas.org.uk/if-youre-treated-unfairly-at-work/being-harassed