Girl Dismissed for Comments on Facebook

Author: Chris Cook

Recently there have been many examples in the news of companies monitoring internet usage, with some completely blocking social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace.

Last week a 16-year-old girl was dismissed from her office job after placing an entry on her Facebook page stating that her job was “boring”. The employee, who worked for a marketing and logistics company in Essex, had only been working there for three weeks and didn’t mention her employer’s name on her Facebook page.  A company representative said that “her display of disrespect and dissatisfaction undermined the relationship and made it untenable.”

This case clearly illustrates that an employee’s conduct outside as well as inside the workplace can result in disciplinary action being taken by their employers.  It is also a stark warning to employees that any public criticism of their employer will damage its reputation, which in turn might lose them their jobs. 

However, employers are reminded that this situation might well have been dealt with differently had the employee in question had more than one year’s service with the company, giving her protection against an unfair dismissal.  Advice should therefore be sought in respect of each individual situation before any decision is taken as to whether to dismiss and to minimise the risk of an unfair dismissal.