Employers and facebook

Rydia

Rydia

Throwing rocks at emo kids
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In certain job settings, people can get fired for what they put on facebook. Where my sister in law works, she got reprimanded because someone in one of her facebook pictures behind her was just holding a beer. She had not been drinking that night and did not know the person in the picture as they were in a resturaunt.

So, should there be a law that says that employers cannot look up their employees on facebook? Or that they cannot fire their employees for things posted on facebook?

I think they should do something about this. It's stupid that someone can't post of picture of themself online for their friends and family and then have to worry about their employer seeing it and firing them. Guess what, people have *gasp* LIVES outside of work! Also, adults drinking, smoking, partying is not illegal. I don't know what the solution should be though.
 
I got in trouble because my bf at the time had gone on my fb, went to a chick from work's fb, and just said 'lol whore' because she tried to spread rumours about me at work being pregnant. I told him not to do it, but I kinda thought it funny anyway.

The next day, she tattled on me, AT WORK, and then the human resources lady gave me shit for it. I don't know what exactly it had to do with work, at all, considering she'd spread all over my fb calling me names and then the next day deleted them for evidence. I couldn't do much, I just asked to be moved from that section cause she was too much drama. :wacky:

But regarding pictures, that's a bit touch and go. Where do you draw the line? Do you draw it at semi innocent looking pictures of someone out partying? Are drinks involved? Do you look completely shit faced? Are you passed out? Are drugs in the background? Are you making out with some random (or even your bf/gf) person sloppily?

It's a slippery slope.
 
Somewhere on facebook there's a pic of me holding and drinking a Bacardi cooler from the ONE, SINGLE time I went to a bar-from about 3 years ago. And I know without a shadow of a doubt someone would make assumptions about me from that pic alone.

It's not fair to judge on past actions of recklessness, even if they were minor, but it's hard to enforce regulations on a person's opinion, you know? It would be great to say "Employer can not search employee's facebook", but it just doesn't seem feasible :/
 
I'm pretty sure you can sue your employer if his/her judgment in firing you/reprimanding you is based on an image seen on facebook. Either way, it's not a good idea to add your employer as a friend because it's not a good idea to mix your social life with your career.
 
If you post pictures from the Christmas party of coworkers being drunk or doing inappropriate things, then maybe they could get offended and your employer could give a disciplinary measure, like a suspension or a warning.

If it's pics of yourself, then your employer should have nothing to say. What you do outside work is none of your employer buisness. There are limits however. If you post a picture as stupid as you taking drugs, as an example, then you are after troubles. I think the facebook user have responsibilities towards what he post and should assume the consequences. I don't know if a law about it would be a good idea because the line is hard to draw and it's almost a case-by-case problem.
 
I personally don't think Facebook or any other social sites should be used to judge you in that way, because that's just what they are. Social. They're there for recreation, and to remember good times.

Most people have a privacy setting, so that only friends can see it, and if clientèle add you to Facebook, they've got no right to complain that this person doesn't look suitable for the job because they've already broken the boundaries between the personal and professional, haven't they? :wacky: A person's personal and professional life should be separated, not used as an excuse to refuse to hire somebody. Unless personal life affects professional life, it shouldn't be involved in job evaluation processes.
 
I think it's pretty stupid to use anything on Facebook as a reason to reprimand or fire someone. What people do on their own time is their own business. So what if you have a picture of you having a drink at a bar? That doesn't mean your a lush. Plenty of people have a couple of drinks in their free time.

People are allowed to have lives and enjoy themselves outside of work. Employers should recognize and respect that.
 
I think it's a good thing to a certain degree. I don't think pictures should be used to made a judgement considering it's easy enough to take it out of context, I've seen pictures of people who've looked wrecked but know for a fact they only had the one drink. However, if people post on their Facebook how much they hate work or the people who work there or pass comments on either of them then you're looking for a sacking and it's deserved. I wouldn't want to employ someone who then goes and gives my company a bad name by the things they say. I think comments show the sort of person you are as well and whether or not your interview/CV is a lie or misleading.
 
Kroshanks said:
I'm pretty sure you can sue your employer if his/her judgment in firing you/reprimanding you is based on an image seen on facebook. Either way, it's not a good idea to add your employer as a friend because it's not a good idea to mix your social life with your career.
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I think if you have a legitimate case in response to the pictures you post on your facebook, that's fine. But employees also have the right to know what kind of people they're hiring. Judging solely on a picture of you holding a beer, however, is biased and therefore (should be) illegal for an equal opportunity employer. If you do your job, do it right and in a timely fashion, who cares what kind of pictures are on your facebook?

Bottom line is: don't add people you don't want seeing potentially racy stuff. And keep it private.

Simple as that.
 
Dee said:
Bottom line is: don't add people you don't want seeing potentially racy stuff. And keep it private.

Simple as that.
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I agree with this. Adding your bosses is really just asking for trouble.

Ryan does bring up a good point about badmouthing your employers in your status, etc. That's a really stupid move anyway if you have co-workers as your FB friends. :lew:
 
Employers will use it to find the true nature of their employees. Which i think is a completely viable thing to do. Eventually at work your true colors will show, and I think its understandable for someone who is paying you for your time to want to know those true colors, and if those are characteristics they are looking for, or if they will just cause headaches in the office. I guess look at it from their perspective ya know.

When you wanna get your car worked on, your not going to go to the mechanic that has a bad reputation, because you dont want to waste your money.

One thing people don't seem to realise is once something is posted on the internet, it is there forever. Even if you delete it. Google may have cached it or the server itself has a back up. So it is never gone.

Secondly, if you really feel your facebook is going to be detrimental, dont make things public. On my facebook every thing is private, unless you are my friend you cannot see anything. And i use my first and middle name, so you cannot find me by typing my name into google.

Essentially be smart and understand that 70% of employers use social networking sites to gather information on their employees, or potential employees.
 
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I think the ultimate answer, like has already been mentioned, is to try to keep your bosses and coworkers from being able to find you on there. However, if for some reason you can't do this, then the only viable reason I could see for them firing/reprimanding you is if they found a picture of you doing something in their office, while you're on the clock, that was bad or detrimental to the company in some way. For example, if you had a picture of yourself mooning a customer while the boss was out that day, or something like that--something that essentially proved that you had seriously violated company regulations while on the job. Because technically, I could be wrong, but I think if a physical photograph was circulated around the office showing the same thing, you could probably get fired for that too and it would hold up in court :hmmm:

But even then, it is still a violation of personal privacy for employers to use your facebook account in general against you. I certainly wouldn't want that because I act completely differently at home than at work, because I work in customer service.

And you can't honestly be expected to be the same at home as you are in a customer service job; while you're in there you're kissing strangers' asses and often having to say G-rated, "socially acceptable" things that don't agree with your own personal beliefs. I hear clients coming into work all the time saying completely asinine, misinformed things about world politics, and yet I can say nothing about it because it could potentially drive them away as a client, and I would get in serious trouble. However, if I want to express my radical, anti-establishment views on a social networking site, then that's my own damned business :dave:

And honestly, how many CEOs DON'T go out and have wild parties, do drugs, and have affairs with mistresses? -_- News of that surfaces so often amongst actual government officials that it's become something of a joke, to be told by late night talk show hosts and the like. So why would a regular citizen be fired over their personal life when Congresspeople and CEOs often have the option of keeping their jobs when personal scandals arise about them? :mokken:
 
The one problem with making your profile private, is that there is something companies can pay for to look at their employees profile regardless of how private it is. I'm not sure if it is something offered by facebook themself, or from an application. That I think is wrong. Also facebook does stupid things with their privacy settings that luckily people find out about and post in their status to change something in privacy.

I can see them firing someone for ranting about work or saying bad things about the company. That person had it coming. Or if the person posted themselves doing something illegal. But simply being in a picture with an unrelated person drinking in the background? That's just going to far.
 
I've had workmates on FB and that's been bad enough at times so not going near employers. Don't think they'd be all impressed to be honest. but then again why would someone want their employer as a friend on FB? Just gimmie my pay and then gtfo of my life for a weekend I say.

Rydia said:
The one problem with making your profile private, is that there is something companies can pay for to look at their employees profile regardless of how private it is. I'm not sure if it is something offered by facebook themself, or from an application. That I think is wrong. Also facebook does stupid things with their privacy settings that luckily people find out about and post in their status to change something in privacy.
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Whaaaaaaat the fuck is this!?
 
Simple solution, and Im sure folk have mentioned this before me

KEEP YOUR WORK AND SOCIAL LIFE SEPERATE

I'd add my boss, but I know him seeing pics of me drunk don't matter, as Ive left him scanning my [pics when Ive buggered off to the loo, your life outside work, is just that.

Appparently, if you work for the council, you weren't allowed to display England flags, on your own property, and the girl in question was always worried about who would link what to her page, racial stuff, and the like, which tbf, job or not, I wouldnt want shit like that on my page any way, but if you can lose your job over it, then, fuck the stress, just don't add your boss. Its STUPID.

Likewise, with collegues, I wouldn't add anyone I knew could potentially cause me trouble in work

Then you get the mongs that complain about their job/work when their profile is clear to see, and they are just asking for it.

LOL AM SKIVING AT WORK OLOLOLOL. Yeah, what do you expect fool

Either remove work folk OR SET YOUR PROFILE TO PRIVATE

I certainly do not think any boss would have any grounds to question you about ANYTHING you do in your own time, as long as its not affecting your work. I can understand if there are pics of you all over bladdered from a wednesday night and you roll in work hungover to fuck the next day and cant perform/call in sick. Even so though. The solution is simple and always goes back to keep your profile private and dont add your boss or anyone that can cause you cant grief

Rydia said:
The one problem with making your profile private, is that there is something companies can pay for to look at their employees profile regardless of how private it is. I'm not sure if it is something offered by facebook themself, or from an application. That I think is wrong. Also facebook does stupid things with their privacy settings that luckily people find out about and post in their status to change something in privacy.
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Is that even legal?!

I'd have them for breach of bleeding privacy!

On another note though, Im not one for airing my laundry in public, at the most it will just be like ughhhh bad day at the office, I would NEVER openly slag someone off regardless of who it was or what they had done.
 
I think it's ridiculous that if your employer did somehow stumble across your page without your knowledge that they would even consider firing you just because they didn't like something they saw on your facebook.

People are not at work 24/7 and most people actually work so that they can get money and then 'OMG! HAVE A LIFE!'

I don't know why anyone would add their employers on facebook if they knew that their boss wouldn't appreciate the content on your page. It's asking for it really isn't it?

I have work mates and my manager on my facebook, but they're not really the top top bosses who actually have the power to fire me. Not that I have anything offensive on my page anyway to worry about them ever seeing it.

But yeah like everyone else has pretty much said: Personal and work life should always remain seperate unless you're really good friends with your workmates or something like I am.

Even though I do get on really well with the top top bosses, I still would never add them to facebook. The relationship I have with them is strictly professional. I wouldn't want them to see me in any other light.
 
Rydia said:
The one problem with making your profile private, is that there is something companies can pay for to look at their employees profile regardless of how private it is. I'm not sure if it is something offered by facebook themself, or from an application. That I think is wrong. .
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Im sorry, but Im going to have to ask for a source on this. Facebook has been under alot of scrutiny lately because of the access it gives some of its apps, but they have been cleaning that up and thats more geared towards spyware and datamining websites. Im pretty sure its illegal for facebook to do what you mentioned, and if they did I'm pretty sure more would know about it because there would be a huge stink about it.

The only other thing I can think of is hiring or creating an account phisher, but those are definately illegal (create fake login pages, emailing people saying that they need to email their password to such and such to get something).
 
I thought it was common knowledge that people could pay to view facebook profiles? There was a huge out cry over it a few years ago

Either way, there are so many ways around facebook's privacy settings. Just send someone a nonsensical message or poke them and you have temporary access to their profile. Facebook is also pretty easy to hack.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-view-private-facebook-profiles/

http://howtoviewprivatefacebookprofiles.com/

What not to put on profiles

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2009/02/make-sure-your-facebook-profile-doesnt.html
 
that last link is utterly ridiculous, what do employers expect? Folk not to let their hair down? As long as what is on there, isnt affecting your job, it shouldnt matter, and couldnt it count as discrimination anyway? Also, as if id remove certain bands or movies if i didnt think a potential employer would like it

Id rather be myself than a liar pretending to be something a potential boss wanted me to be
 
Rydia said:
I thought it was common knowledge that people could pay to view facebook profiles? There was a huge out cry over it a few years ago

Either way, there are so many ways around facebook's privacy settings. Just send someone a nonsensical message or poke them and you have temporary access to their profile. Facebook is also pretty easy to hack.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-view-private-facebook-profiles/

http://howtoviewprivatefacebookprofiles.com/

What not to put on profiles

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2009/02/make-sure-your-facebook-profile-doesnt.html
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The first link is from may of '09, i only skimmed the article, but most of those im sure dont work anymore. And None of those in the second are hardcoded apps tho. Its all through stupidy and social engineering, if you are a intelligent computer user you can avoid most if not all of these methods.

I thought you meant facebook had actually had like a "backdoor" i guess, and employers could pay to view all of ur shit as if they were your friend.
 
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