Recently a female newscaster stood up to hecklers shouting sexist comments interrupting her live feed at a sports event in TO. The clip (click here to view raw video) of her calling out the hecklers was picked up by new stations and spread across social media like lightening. Some people who saw the clip were not only able to identify the heckler but also where he worked. Complaints about him were directed to his company, who were forced to respond as they were concerned his actions would tarnish corporate reputation. He was fired within 24 hours of the original broadcast.
This isn’t the first time social media has been used to identify people who were misbehaving on their own time and paid the price by losing their jobs. A Subway employee in the states lost her job after she was identified as celebrating the deaths of two policemen, people who participated in the Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver were fired, students at Dalhousie University’s dentistry school were suspended after an inappropriate, supposedly private, Facebook group was uncovered.
A quick Google search of social media job loss results in a variety of articles:
- 11 ways to lose your job on Facebook
- 10 people who lost jobs over social media mistakes
- 10 social media blunders that cost a millennial a job
It’s common knowledge that prospective bosses check social media profiles of potential new hires to ensure a good corporate fit. Companies that work hard to develop a positive social media presence don’t 
want any employee – from the President to the mail room clerk – to damage that reputation.
The question becomes how intrusive can your boss be when it comes to what you do on your own time? In this MacLean’s article that inspired this blog post there are further examples of how company time is melting into personal time, the company blackberry for example that keeps you connected and the live-the-brand culture. Some HR departments are trying to be proactive with increased sensitivity training. Is that beneficial or just another way to cover their tracks if something happens? Meaning that if an employee is caught on social media that they shouldn’t be doing the organization can point to the training as an excuse to terminate.
I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on this. In your opinion are terminations justified when an employee is “outed” on social media doing something not necessarily illegal but unpleasant on their own time? In your opinion if an employee is terminated in this manner should they be allowed to sue the corporation that terminated them? Do you know anyone this has happened to?
Thanks for contributing to this conversation!
~S~
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
Hello Sarah.
What an interesting topic, and one so very appropriate for this course. In my opinion, no organization wants negative attention, especially from the faces of their company, The employees are the backbone of the companies. No company out there wants to associate themselves with inappropriate, embarrassing behavior. I work for the LCBO, and if I was stupid enough to drive drunk, and get pulled over, I would lose my job. I represent an organisation that prides itself on social responsibility.
It is not intrusive for an employer to look at what you do on your own time because you are clearly letting them do so by having facebook, linkedin twitter etc. Years ago before the computer age, an employer would ask for hobbies and interests on a resume, hoping to achieve a character analysis on you. They would ask and still do for references because they want to know what sort of person you are.
Thanks to social media, the employer can get it first hand, in quotes, video, or pictures. The individual or employee doing these bad behaviors can now be held accountable for their actions.
I enjoyed your post. I am certain it will draw up lots of discussion.
Thanks for your feedback. I especially liked your comment about hobbies on a resume “in the old days.” Character assessments were also generally given by your references. I wonder in today’s world if a glowing reference would outweigh something negative found on social media? I’m sure it’s probably very subjective but certainly interesting to speculate on!
All of this has me thinking…How could you defend a negative post about you on social media? Hypothetically speaking, if you’re not caught on camera or with your fingers in the proverbial cookie jar… what if someone wanted to sabotage your career by blitzing various social media sites and painting a completely negative picture of you. Would a glowing character reference be enough?
Something similar happened to a friend of mine. She’s a manager of a major telecommunications provider and was in a retail store one day assisting the sales team when an irate customer came in to complain about their service. He was unhappy with the proposed resolution and ended up taking a picture of the three people who had helped him that day and posted it along with a very negative review online. For a long time it was the first thing that came up when my friend would google her name. Her employer didn’t take action against the employees who were, after all, just doing their jobs but it was very disturbing for my friend. The only useful advice she got was to try to “bury” it in the google feed by posting other, more positive things about herself.
What a timely article with this happening so recently, great job!
I believe an employer has the right to control their image and that as employees we represent the brands we work for even when not at work. I know a lot of employment contracts cover this as a reasonable ground for dismissal and if the employee signs the contract they are accepting the responsibility. When I went to University I took Education and planned on becoming a teacher. I was always very aware that as a teacher I was a public figure. I was only a student teacher and I would run into parents and students at grocery stores or restaurants. It seemed a little surreal to me to be recognized and to be “on” all the time but I knew it was part of the job. There are many professions where this was part of the expectations prior to the introduction to social media. Therefore, I don’t find it surprising that these expectations have been expanded to include other industries with all the tools available to us now.
I do think this is a mind shift for a lot of people though because when social media was first introduced I think many saw it as a private place. Somewhere they were able to go to talk/vent to their friends about their life. Now those older posts and more current ones are coming out of the shadows to the light of day. It is not just the public and your job either. I know several property management firms that search their applicants to ensure they are someone they would want living in their rentals. This is an adjustment for a lot of people as it is not just the things you press send on but it is the way you are living your life that is out there to be scrutinized.
I so agree with you. A friend of mine was a teacher and her first job out of university was at a very highly regarded private school. Just before she started she gave an interview in a local indie newspaper about a character she played on a tv show. The character was somewhat on the edge and there was some profanity in the article. She was fired before she was even able to begin work.
It’s not very comfortable to realize that our actions are being scrutinized to such a degree but I do understand the position some employers feel they must take to protect their reputations.
I am beginning to think the only place that we really have privacy is locked in our own bathrooms without phones, tablets, or other enabled devices. While we are all representative of some form of community – our work, our neighbourhood, our family – I don’t believe our actions outside of our work environment should be punishable at work. If someone gets stinkin’ drunk at a work event – that’s completely different. If they get stinkin’ drunk and make a spectacle of themselves outside their work environment, while shameful, it should not be punishable at work. They should not be fired no more than they should be asked to leave their families, or sell their home.
I think it’s so funny you mentioned the bathroom – I know SO many people who take their devices in there with them – there’s even an app of games you can play called Toilet Time LOL
While I understand your point I disagree. There is a line of what is acceptable and what isn’t regardless of whether you’re at work or not and social media has made that line even finer.
Not acceptable, sure, but fired at work?
There have been a lot of great responses for this topic! In addition to some of the points supporting the termination of employees, I think that with Social Media, the consumer is now able to hold a business responsible for its actions and the actions of its employees. As a result of this, I think that employers are now in a position where they have to respond to the inappropriate behavior in some way, either through termination or suspension. By ignoring the issue, they could risk tarnishing their brand and losing their customers.
Completely agree Jacqueline. There is really no privacy but so long as you are behaving appropriately there is no cause for concern.