Should you be held accountable for your facebook postings by your employer?

[Harold Mansfield]

People using social media to post personal feelings and opinions is nothing new. We have all heard stories of people who have been fired or disciplined because of FB images or posts that criticize their employers.

Almost every time, the argument is that they should have a right to privacy and employers have no right to use their Facebook activities to discipline them.

Personally, I think it's a dumb argument. Facebook is not your own private network. It's free public website that you use willingly because you want others to see what you have posted.

I think that if you are dumb enough to bad mouth your boss or post personal feelings about your job in public, then you deserve what you get because you are an idiot. If you are a police officer, you don't post information or derogatory statements about your officer involved shooting where someone was killed.

It's no different than behaving like a fool during the office Christmas party..but at least that is forgivable in most cases.

I think that if you want a personal journal to post your feelings and you have a position that could put you in a bad light, that you don't use the internet..especially not a free, public website. People whisper out in public when they are saying things that they don't want overheard, but they'll publish them online freely without a thought to who can see it. It's a really stupid and somewhat arrogant thing to do.

I'm really getting sick of people expecting privacy, for their public behavior. It's ridiculous and I have no sympathy for any of them in this day and age. The web is not a mystery anymore and even if it was, why would you post things that you don't want people to see, somewhere that you don't fully understand how it works?

It's not YOUR internet. There are ways to have privacy online, but they don't involve using free, public, social websites.

What do you guys think?

[greenoak]

i agree completley......it isnt private at all...and what boss would want a worker who trashed him in any way? .

[Capitalist]

A couple of years ago, I abandoned all hope of ever keeping my personal and business life separate online. It just can't work when you're online as much as I am, involved in as many things.

If a client Googles me, they're going to find post by me of a very political nature - that's just how it is. I don't spout vitriol, but I'm firm in my beliefs. I don't push them on clients, but I no longer attempt to hide them, either.

I'm 27, and my generation will be the one who attempts to define how professional relationships are handled in this new age of transparency. I have a sister who just turned 18, and really feel sorry for her generation - they've been online since they could read. Imagine going into a job interview fresh out of college, only to be asked about a post on a message board that you made when you were 12 years old. A lot of these kids are posting things that will follow them around for a long, long time, and not in a positive way.

[Harold Mansfield]

Usually at the end of a job, clients will send a FB friend request to my personal account. I used to accept them. Now I try to steer them to join my business page, and I will do the same for theirs. I don't need clients following my antics and jokes with my actual friends and acquaintances. I just don't really see any reason for it.

[greenoak]

i know ...i want to rant and rave politically on my personal page ....and know i have about 70 people on there who are on my store page too.... so i have to hide the real me a bit.... and otoh im sad to see some people, who i really like, and who i thought were smart, signing up for some places i think are tragically dumb.....
it really is becoming a transparant world...

[ChrisHeggem]

Didn't the Supreme Court have a ruling on this late last year? As I recall somebody was fired based on what they said on Facebook, but the Supreme Court said that was free speech. What was said on Facebook may not have been towards the company but I remember there was a settlement over this issue.

I think if somebody is going to say a lot of negative things about their employer, their distaste for their employer will also manifest itself in their performance. I can't imagine somebody being so negative online and an upright citizen in the office. It'll balance itself out in the end. :-)

[Paper Shredder Clay]

My brother recently received a 45 minute talking to after saying on Facebook; he had wished he was still in his family business that he was tired of his profession. I wasn't shocked by it. I think you need to think before you start talking. You don't have to badmouth your company, just your profession and you will get in trouble.

[Harold Mansfield]

My brother recently received a 45 minute talking to after saying on Facebook; he had wished he was still in his family business that he was tired of his profession. I wasn't shocked by it. I think you need to think before you start talking. You don't have to badmouth your company, just your profession and you will get in trouble.

I just don't share thought like that on Facebook. Of course I can't get in trouble with anyone for anything, but you never know who could see it. I'd hate to say something today that costs me business with someone else in the future. There are some things that I may joke around about, but nothing negative about work or specific clients.

It only takes the slightest of things to turn people off.

[Business Attorney]

Didn't the Supreme Court have a ruling on this late last year? As I recall somebody was fired based on what they said on Facebook, but the Supreme Court said that was free speech

It wasn't the Supreme Court, it was the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency. There was a settlement with an agreement by the employer to make changes to certain policies regarding communications. A settlement is not necessarily a "win" by the NLRB on the underlying issue but simply a case of the company deciding that caving made more sense than continuing to fight. Most importantly it was NOT a free speech issue. The Constitution prevents the government from restricting your freedom of speech, not a private employer.

The complaint (and settlement) was based on federal laws which prevent an employer from restricting employees from discussing working conditions with other employees. The NLRB took the position that since at least some of the employee's Facebook friends were fellow employees, the company's restrictions violated federal labor law.

No one really knows how far that argument will take an employee. Certainly if the employee has no fellow employees among his or her Facebook friends, it seems clear that the labor law would not protect the employee. The purpose of that particular provision of the labor law is to protect the rights of the workers to join together to change their working conditions, not to protect a protect a worker who simply wants to publicly bash his employer.