Employers going too far?

[greenbush future]

Re: Employers going too far?

Being a head hunter and finding folks jobs in I.T. for a living here. I don't see any of what you are speaking about, I do see sensationalism from a disgusting media/entertainment industry. And I see a bunch of goof balls posting personal garbage on public websites that if I read, as a hiring manager, I would use to help me decide if I wanted to hire a person. So in the end if your dumb enough to put information out there that could be considered bad in anyone's eye's, then I guess you get what you deserve. This social networking "fad" is comical, and those who fail to use basic brains, deserve what they get.
And any company that demanded access to my personal information not available to the public would be off my list of companies I would ever consider. I've fired my employer before and I'll do it again if I disagree with them.
Use your brain, not everything you do should be put on-line for the world to see, most really don't care anyways!!

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Employers going too far?

Ok guys, some good rants and perspectives here.
So whats the solution? Does anyone want to jump in with a few ideas to correct this?
Clearly the younger generation (under 35? under 30) probably needs the most uptraining on this.
So anybody have some ideas? Anyone limiting their kids facebook time? Anyone limiting their own facebook time now?
Whats the plan stan?
All good
BP

 

[soggy_feet]

Re: Employers going too far?

One concrete reason employers should not be allowed to do this is it allows them to discriminate against someone based upon political views, sexual preference or medical conditions. In most places that is illegal.

If you are forced to give your facebook password as a condition of employment and they read in a private email on there that you have a different political view than them...well that could be the difference between getting the job or not.

I know a guy who was offered a machinist position at a local place, put in his 2 week notice, and then had the new position revoked from him. Would-be employer cited "excessive use of profanity" on his facebook page.


His facebook profile was set to private, and his excessive use was used jokingly with a couple close friends.
So, another issue, facebook will sell your private information, although, if you go on a website and don't see something for sale, YOU'RE for sale....
Fortunately, he was able to keep the job he thought he was leaving.

Had another friend, a co-worker, fired from the place I work. He was accused of pulling a gun on someone while driving down the highway. Thats what the quick little article in the local paper said. No witnesses, just the 2 cars involved, and everything has since been cleared, but my friend "is a liability to the company", and cannot be hired back at any point.


Employers go too far?

I'd have to say.. yeah.

 

[Captain Shikaboo]

Re: Employers going too far?

I work for two very large companies, one as a full time employee, and the other a consultant. One has a privacy policy that states that they don't give two cents about your private life, including social networks. Even if you make threats on FB, they have to ignore it. If people I work with start taking top secret info and displaying it on their FB, then ITAR regulations are enforced by the government.

The second company deals with military defense stuff, we aren't allowed to have a social website with our name on it. We are allowed to have an 'indirect social page' with lots of regs to follow. i.e. a FB account with a personal e-mail and a nickname and a friend limit of 100. And these are seriouisly some of the rules. If we do this, they ask that we give them a link to the page. I chose to work for this company and it's been a great excuse not to have my name hanging out in the FB realm, especially when old 'friends' are looking for you. We signed a secure information policy that I wished I could post because it gives very grimm examples of social networking gone bad.

All of my workplaces have put out some sort of memo or e-mail letting us know about thier stance on social websites. If your place of work hasn't let you know thier policy on it, you should ask.

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Employers going too far?

Ok guys, some good rants and perspectives here.
So whats the solution? Does anyone want to jump in with a few ideas to correct this?
Clearly the younger generation (under 35? under 30) probably needs the most uptraining on this.
So anybody have some ideas? Anyone limiting their kids facebook time? Anyone limiting their own facebook time now?
Whats the plan stan?
All good
BP

Keep your personal life off the WWW.
It's no place to share private personal items. It's rather obvious to me, but not others, and I find it more funny than serious.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Employers going too far?

In the age of law suits, I'm surprised that nobody mentioned corporate liability for the actions of their employees.

Someone mentioned a teacher posting pictures of themselves drinking on Facebook. Would you want your child being taught by a teacher who is stupid enough as to post picture of them drunk or drinking on a public media?

What would happen if the teacher was involved in an accident at school? Would the school system not be held liable for the act of its employee? You don?t think the information posted on a social media website is not admissible in court? You don?t think they can subpoena info behind your password? You had better think again. Companies are sued on a regular basis for the actions of their employees outside the work places.

Some other interesting facts:

Individual states specifically prohibit defamation, no matter what form it takes. Defamation consists of false and unprivileged publication which results in economic damages. Financial loss is not necessary where the statement implies that a person is a criminal or has an unpleasant disease, or which injures a person in respect to his other office, profession, or business.
In some cases, companies have asked the court system to identify the authors of anonymous defamatorymessages. This has been done by filing "John Doe" lawsuits andissuing subpoenas to Yahoo! and other message boards where individuals have posted the disparaging messages. Most such subpoenas go unchallenged.

Internet users sometimes do not realize the amount of privacy that is lost when accessing the online world. Usenet postings and contributions to bulletin boards may remain archived forever.Public records are available free or for a fee. While much of this information has been freely available in the past, the advent of the Internet has made it available more easily and quickly.

Generally, there is no safety in activity that is unlawful. Anonymity should not be considered a secure shield because, ultimately, any data may be intercepted. An offender is specifically liable for damages to the victim. At times, this liability can be extended to include others (e.g. an employer) with a greater capacity for satisfying the judgment.

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: Employers going too far?

^^^^^^^^ great post

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Employers going too far?

Just use common sense on what you post and you will be fine. Social Media is here for awhile so learn to use it wisely. The company I work for even has a company sponsored Facebook page. Its a tool to use for business, family and friends to keep in touch and learn.

Just because your car can go 100MPH doesn't mean you need to drive it that fast. Just because you can post anything you want doesn't mean you should.

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: Employers going too far?

Just use common sense on what you post and you will be fine. Social Media is here for awhile so learn to use it wisely. The company I work for even has a company sponsored Facebook page. Its a tool to use for business, family and friends to keep in touch and learn.

Just because your car can go 100MPH doesn't mean you need to drive it that fast. Just because you can post anything you want doesn't mean you should.

A company having a FB page is a pretty pro active way to encourage people to behave. If people know that the "Company" is seeing it all the time I'm sure the "workers" behave differently.

Your car only goes 100 mph??

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Employers going too far?

Your car only goes 100 mph??

The speedometer says it only goes that fast!

 

[korygrandy]

Re: Employers going too far?

Sharing drama is not of value and I would agree with a previous post that this probably occurs more often with more naive, simple minded individuals that might not be critically thinking as much as they ought to be.

Befriending co-workers on Facebook makes for an interesting work environment. A lot of the folks I work with are friends with each other and there will be the occasional post that gets the drama and rumors started.

With that being said, my employer promotes knowledge sharing, via any method of communication and it really raises the level of intellect around here.


Some people let emotions rule there thought process regardless and this is probably another factor to consider when an employee goes on a social-network rant. If they didn't approach there issues constructively prior to hitting the socials, I would consider this person a liability.

I would think today most employees are "at will" and SHOULD understand they are expendable. I know I am, and that's why I continue to knock it outta the park awaiting my terrible consequences from a great job that normally amount to a bonus. Isn't work just terrible!

 

[rivermouse]

Re: Employers going too far?

On case I have direct knowledge is of one local school teacher who was posting on facebook to another teacher she knew and described one school as "being sorta getto" .She was fired. Every one knows that our system with approx 130 schools has some that for unclear reasons are known for violence against teachers, poor student attendance and gang activity when others dont have those issues yet she was fired. I guess some friend of a friend of a friend on facebook decided to "imform" on her...go figure

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: Employers going too far?

On case I have direct knowledge is of one local school teacher who was posting on facebook to another teacher she knew and described one school as "being sorta getto" .She was fired. Every one knows that our system with approx 130 schools has some that for unclear reasons are known for violence against teachers, poor student attendance and gang activity when others dont have those issues yet she was fired. I guess some friend of a friend of a friend on facebook decided to "imform" on her...go figure

The political correctness trap!
Its one of the major downfalls of our country currently.

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: Employers going too far?

I think I failed to be specific enough. I'm not talking about bad mouthing someone or going into personal details. I was talking about having very different idiologies from the boss or company / organization and it resulting in termination, supension, or not getting a job. Example, someone working a Catholic hospital or school and being pro choice and saying so in facebook as happened a few weeks ago in Chicago or the copy editor at Essence magazine beign terminated / reassigned for his position on voter ID.

Apparently employeers are begining to believe that paying you wages for your work also means they can dictate the employees ideologies and personal views. Personally I find that very disturbuing if not down right scary.

Well bubba if you worked for a company that was owned by a Liberal Democrat do you think getting on your facebook page supporting the Conservative Republican cause would be a smart thing to do?

If someone working for and receiving money from the Catholic Church believes strongly enough for abortion rights they need to find a new job! Or be quiet!

I think the overwhelming feeling here is you should be smart enough to know what and what not to put out there on social media.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Employers going too far?

Apparently employeers are begining to believe that paying you wages for your work also means they can dictate the employees ideologies and personal views. Personally I find that very disturbuing if not down right scary.

There are 800 million facebook users of which there are 150 million users in the US. People are fired everyday for a variety of reasons and thousands times more for reasons other than Facebook. You have picked out a few that the media are pushing as some sort of violation of privacy issue that you seem to believe is alarming. Trust me, the sky is not falling.

Between this thread and your "Google and Privacy" thread, I am surprised you are even connected to the internet.

 

[joewithaboat]

Re: Employers going too far?

There are 800 million facebook users of which there are 150 million users in the US. People are fired everyday for a variety of reasons and thousands times more for reasons other than Facebook. You have picked out a few that the media are pushing as some sort of violation of privacy issue that you seem to believe is alarming. Trust me, the sky is not falling.

Between this thread and your "Google and Privacy" thread, I am surprised you are even connected to the internet.

Well between Google stuff, gmail users and my Daughter using facebook, I have to use.. 1 paid and 2 freeware apps to keep my computer clean. So i think they all suck just for that reason.

 

[Cofe]

Re: Employers going too far?

Sad to say the "information age" has become an infringement on our privacy. Reminds me of a Indian saying...."Don't tell the trees something that you don't want the wind to hear."

 

[rivermouse]

Re: Employers going too far?

I know for sure that if you ever sue someone YOUR present and former credibility plays a big role if it goes to court. The legal plan is set now to include all former face book or other information stored in some computer for 30 years and if you ever mentioned anything or did anything that could make you look bad it can now be something the jury will hear about even though you were the injured victum in a serious car wreck. What you may have done 40 years ago doesnt have to be related to your accident case and they can still bring it out in court....I have seen this happen. I bet lawyers love facebook

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Employers going too far?

I think I failed to be specific enough. I'm not talking about bad mouthing someone or going into personal details. I was talking about having very different idiologies from the boss or company / organization and it resulting in termination, supension, or not getting a job. Example, someone working a Catholic hospital or school and being pro choice and saying so in facebook as happened a few weeks ago in Chicago or the copy editor at Essence magazine beign terminated / reassigned for his position on voter ID.

Apparently employeers are begining to believe that paying you wages for your work also means they can dictate the employees ideologies and personal views. Personally I find that very disturbuing if not down right scary.

I think perhaps you are STILL not being specific enough....
Several responders have asked how many cases of this phenomenon that you find so disturbing are from FIRST-HAND knowledge.....you have been loudly silent.

The danger of second-hand, or even more distant, recounting of stories, is that the actual facts may become lost or altered in the translation....and then posted on anonymous internet forums. The link you posted, early in this thread brings up such illustrious media outlets as the Huffington post and others of that ilk, but not one main stream source.
Your reference to a Copy Editor at Essence magazine being terminated/reassigned for his position on voter ID is a good example. Was he terminated...or reassigned?....big difference....and what was his actual position on voter ID?
No matter, a search of the internet does not bring any matching details to light.

But, Michael Bullerdick, who was the Managing Editor of Essence magazine (a publication aimed at black females) was fired by his boss....a black female, for posting racially offensive material on his Facebook page. Given the target audience of his employer, I can see how that might have been a problem. :facepalm:

Might that have been the story you meant to use as an illustration?

I'm with Bruce, Ken, GBF et al ....nothing to see here.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Employers going too far?

Sad to say the "information age" has become an infringement on our privacy. Reminds me of a Indian saying...."Don't tell the trees something that you don't want the wind to hear."

A very wise saying.

If someone illegally taps your phone line that is a serious invasion of your privacy.
If you have knowingly and willfully entered material into the morass that is cyberspace, why on Earth should there be any expectation of privacy?