The Trouble with Twitter (and other social media) Ten years ago the sentence “I lost my job because of a tweet” would have met with blank stares. Nine years after the advent of Twitter, a review of recent case law shows that messages posted on Twitter, like Facebook, have led to more than a few people losing their job.
read more see The City of Toronto v. Toronto Professional Firefighters Association, Local 3888, 2014 CanLII 62879 (ON LA) MY BOSS IS SUCH AN IDIOT
“SWAT ON THE BACK OF THE HEAD”
A frustrated employee left work after telling her employer that she needed to go on sick leave. Apparently her employer shouted at her saying that if she did not provide a medical certificate justifying her absence she would be shown the door.
Two young firefighters were alleged to have engaged in the following Twitter exchange:
The upset employee wrote a post on Facebook which included the following comment:
Here are some examples:
Dean Somerset@deansomerset Just stood behind a girl who used the word “like” roughly 300 times to order her coffee. Stay in skool, kidz.
Lawaun Edwards @Bassfire 3680 @deansomerset would swat her in the back of the head been considered abuse or a way to reset the brain?
Damn, my boss is such an idiot Not only was the employee terminated from her job, but when she applied for Employment Insurance her application was denied. Offensive and injurious statements about one’s employer can constitute wilful misconduct because it severs the bond of trust between an employer and an employee. S.H. v. Canada Employment Insurance Commission, 2014 SSTGDEI 57 (CanLii) “KICK THEIR ..”
Dean Somerset@deansomerset @Bassfire3680 Maybe foreplay?
A dental assistant posted the following comments about her Employer on Facebook:
Lawaun Edwards@Bassire3680 @deansomerset unlikely, intelligence and a vocabulary is sexy. Saying “like” that amount of times means you have none. At the time he participated in that exchange on Twitter, Lawaun Edwards, firefighter with the Toronto Fire Service had 49 Twitter followers, he followed 89 people and he had sent out 1,552 tweets. There was no evidence that any of his followers had objected to Edwards’s tweets. Edwards claimed he thought his Tweets were private and could only be read by the people he was sending the message to. Clearly his messages were not private, instead they were included in an article than ran in the National Post suggesting that while the Toronto Fire Service was trying to recruit more women, some firefighters may not be very welcoming. Although ultimately reinstated on appeal, Edwards was initially terminated from his employment. To
TAKE AWAYS 1. Although you may freely express yourself on social media it is the case that negative tweets, texts and posts about your employer /colleagues /clients may result in: • • • • •
Losing your job perhaps with cause; A harassment complaint; A human rights complaint; The denial of EI benefits; and/or The loss of sick leave benefits
2. Pause before posting /tweeting anything that relates to work, particularly when angry or frustrated. 3. Consider that while your settings may be private, your online friends and followers may not have similarly private settings. 4. Assume that anything you post that relates to your employer will be seen by them and act accordingly.
Mann Lawyers LLP is a full service law firm operating in Ottawa’s Hintonburg area. This article is not intended to provide legal advice. Should you require legal advice, please contact Mann Lawyers LLP at 613.722.1500 or visit mannlawyers.com.
I hope they don’t get away with it and I hope Karma kicks their ass. The dental assistant’s post generated many negative comments by others, some of which were racist in nature. One of the other receptionists at the clinic brought the negative Facebook comments to the employer’s attention. The dental assistant’s employment was terminated on the grounds that the employer did not feel that he could trust her anymore. See Herrett v. Bong-Keun Choi Dentistry Professional Corporation, 2014 HRTO 1845 (CanLii). In these examples the employees fought their dismissals or denial of benefits. Based on my experience I think it safe to say that there are many other unreported instances where people lose their jobs because of texts, tweets and posts that people mistakenly believe are private.
Colleen Hoey
Mann Lawyers LLP 613.722.1500. www.mannlawyers.com
61 | July 2015