Fired over Facebook? Options

[cornflake]

I cannot say who it is for fear of getting in more trouble.
A union may have been mentioned when I joined back in december but **** if I know! I never got any paperwork or anything to tell me so! Just like I never got anything saying I couldn't do this.
No union will take my case because I need to be a member before the investigation started, not half way through.

[thatcham residen...]

But your colleague that you had added as a friend could have printed it off, as all friends that you have added see and have access to your profile.

[Brewmaster]

A colleague I had added as a friend went and showed them. They have admitted they cannot access my profile because it is private which means they have not been able to print anything.
They have also admitted that I have never recieved the relevant documentation telling me this is forbidden and how serious it is.

Try taking the company to an industrial tribunal on the grounds of wrongful dismissal.

[Andy Capp]

I cannot say who it is for fear of getting in more trouble.
A union may have been mentioned when I joined back in december but **** if I know! I never got any paperwork or anything to tell me so! Just like I never got anything saying I couldn't do this.
No union will take my case because I need to be a member before the investigation started, not half way through.

If you work for who I think you do, the union would be rubbish anyway. I think you will just have to take this on the chin. Perhaps kick the 'friend' in the groin as well.

[Turin Machine]

Seriously, if you post on the internet it's a matter of record, If you want to "socialise" get a mate, go down the pub, ring someone up. WTF is this obsession with face book and twitter ??

[Andy Capp]

Seriously, if you post on the internet it's a matter of record, If you want to "socialise" get a mate, go down the pub, ring someone up. WTF is this obsession with face book and twitter ??

It's called evolution. Perhaps you still swing from the trees and beat drums to communicate?

[Jayjay]

Hopefully you posted from your home computer and in your own time. Suggest you contact ACAS who will give good advice. Email HR explaining you did not receive the booklet at induction and request a copy. This will establish it was not provided previously and will also assist CAB in assessing your case. At any hearing you are allowed to take a work colleague or legal rep. If you contact the union rep working on site they may agree to sit in with you. Otherwise take someone you feel comfortable with, it will give you confidence. Good luck.

[Berkshirelad]

Wrongful dismissal will go nowhere at all.

You do not qualify for such legal protection until you have completed 12 months with your employer. Until that time, you can be dismissed without reason (but not without notice) - as long as they do not discriminate on grounds of race, gender or disability.

In the case here, the difference between gross misconduct and misconduct is whether or not notice will be paid.

[Berkshirelad]

At any hearing you are allowed to take a work colleague or legal rep.

Not so.

You may take a work colleague or qualified union rep; there is no entitlement to take any legal representation. This was confirmed by recent case law.

[Sidney]

There is no need to call me names. I came on here for advice, not to be insulted.
I'm already upset enough over this, do you think that comment has made me feel in the slightest bit better?

There is no need to call you names ?? ..... well that's what you did on Facebook to someone else is it not ?

[Biker1]

Facebook?..........nothing but trouble.
I hear almost every day of the problems crate by it.
Some have even ended their lives because of comments on it.

[user23]

Facebook?..........nothing but trouble.
I hear almost every day of the problems crate by it.
Some have even ended their lives because of comments on it.

It's a great medium for keeping in touch people and the benefits far outweigh the "problems" with it. I type problems in inverted commas as aren't the problems with the people that use it rather than the medium itself.

If it wasn't, Google wouldn't be about to release their own version.

[Biker1]

aren't the problems with the people that use it rather than the medium itself.

Good point and therein lies the problem - as highlighted in this case??
Only trouble is that those affected are often not the "misusers".

[user23]

Good point and therein lies the problem - as highlighted in this case??
Only trouble is that those affected are often not the "misusers".

It's the same as many other media. For example people use the telephone to harass others and paedophiles use the postal system to send perverse pictures to each other.

Both actions affect other people negatively and are criminal acts yet I've never heard anyone suggest that either medium "is nothing but trouble".

[Biker1]

Both actions affect other people negatively and are criminal acts yet I've never heard anyone suggest that either medium "is nothing but trouble".

Just a figure of speech, but it seems that every day I hear of problems caused by comments on Facebook, either with people I know or in the news.
This is not so of other mediums.

[GMR]

Wrongful dismissal will go nowhere at all.

You do not qualify for such legal protection until you have completed 12 months with your employer. Until that time, you can be dismissed without reason (but not without notice) - as long as they do not discriminate on grounds of race, gender or disability.

In the case here, the difference between gross misconduct and misconduct is whether or not notice will be paid.

i thought that was changed to 24 months many years ago?

[cornflake]

There is no need to call you names ?? ..... well that's what you did on Facebook to someone else is it not ?

I didn't call anyone specifically names. In fact the person who took offence to it was not the person the comment was about.

Proving that it has been misinterpreted and that it doesn't directly relate to any specific person.

[cornflake]

But your colleague that you had added as a friend could have printed it off, as all friends that you have added see and have access to your profile.

I know they did not print it off. The company are having trouble getting hard evidence because they cannot access my profile. Suggesting...it at least has some level of privacy and is DEFINATELY not publically open.

[Simon Kirby]

I didn't call anyone specifically names. In fact the person who took offence to it was not the person the comment was about.

Proving that it has been misinterpreted and that it doesn't directly relate to any specific person.

It's a bit harsh I know, but I think your best strategy is to be sacked with your dignity and integrity in tact. Take responsibility and apologise, and don't make excuses, and you might even escape with a final written warning.

[user23]

I know they did not print it off. The company are having trouble getting hard evidence because they cannot access my profile. Suggesting...it at least has some level of privacy and is DEFINATELY not publically open.

Whilst you're right that your settings did not allow it to be seen directly by the public, anything you post on Facebook has the potential to be seen by anyone else given the viral nature of how information can spread on the Internet.

I might have thought this incident last month should highlight that one should use Social Media with a great deal of thought as to what and to whom they post.

I agree with Simon here and perhaps it's best to chalk this up to experience and walk away.