I might get fired for Gross Misconduct and I'm scared what will happen

MalMonroe

I love the way Lomast has just given you some really unhelpful 'advice' there. He or she has just accepted that you are in the wrong. But since you ask for advice, I think you could do worse than contact your GP and ask to be referred for some kind of counselling or therapy to help you sort things out or just to talk over what's been going on. You say you are 'only' 34 years old but you are a grown adult and you really don't need your family's approval for anything. I'm shocked that someone complained to your workplace about something you put on Facebook, unless you did it in work time and used their equipment to write about a colleague. Why didn't the person come directly to you? Because it's quite an easy thing to ask you to remove your comment. I'm not sure how you can be fired for 'gross misconduct' when you haven't actually done anything fitting that description that affects your actual work. Did you ask HR for all the details? Or did you just accept what they said? You need to start asking more questions and not just accepting what you're being told. And why not check your employment contract, just so you know how and why you can be fired?Most of all, why not look at the positives here instead of the negatives? You say you worked hard to get this job - that's a really big plus because you got it. That's a great achievement these days. Another positive is that this company then paid quite a substantial amount of money up front to help you with your studies. They wouldn't do that if they didn't have any faith in your abilities. Would they? I would also try to stop using social media quite so much but I have to ask the question, why does someone appear to be keeping such a close eye on what you are doing on social media? What would anyone else have to gain if you lost your job? I find it interesting that you say "I had to resign from my previous job after almost being fired for social media posts". Why? Did someone tell you to resign? Why were you 'almost fired'? You weren't actually fired. What would have happened if you'd stayed? Even after resigning from that job, you managed to work hard to get your current job - was that without references? Try not to panic, or be too hard on yourself, I'm sure you will be able to get your life back on track, you just need to be able to talk things over. If you don't want to contact your GP or a therapist, why not phone Citizens Advice to find out about your rights at work?  

MalMonroe

p.s. Sorry my post is so long! But also I wanted to say that Citizens Advice would also be able to give some advice about paying that £12,000 back, if necessary. Good luck with everything!

Lomast

He had to quit one job before he was fired for posting something on social media now he is facing gross misconduct over a Facebook post.
I stand by my comment

ScottishGuy1122

MalMonroe said:

p.s. Sorry my post is so long! But also I wanted to say that Citizens Advice would also be able to give some advice about paying that £12,000 back, if necessary. Good luck with everything!

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it. In regards to my previous employment I was on a final written warning but they started overly scrutinizing my work and was told any minor slip in performance would result in dismissal so I jumped before I was pushed...I'm just scared of being a failure....yet again.

ScottishGuy1122

Jsacker said:

MalMonroe said:

I love the way Lomast has just given you some really unhelpful 'advice' there. He or she has just accepted that you are in the wrong.

 I'm shocked that someone complained to your workplace about something you put on Facebook, unless you did it in work time and used their equipment to write about a colleague. Why didn't the person come directly to you? Because it's quite an easy thing to ask you to remove your comment.

It's funny but you sort of tainted an otherwise decent piece of advice by randomly going after Lomast there! I'm in agreement with quite a bit of what you posted, but to just address the Lomast bit:

- I don't think that Lomast's advice was about figuring out the "rights and wrongs" of the case, so I don't think they accepted either position here. It was about offering advice which prevents this sort of thing from happening again in the future, IRRESPECTIVE of whether it is right or wrong.

- In terms of your shock about their colleague reporting them for something outside of work, and not confronting the person who posted it... I can't speak for the more sensitive types of people who report distasteful comments (I don't generally care enough), and maybe they should have extended that courtesy, but if a colleague of mine was posting (racist) stuff which falls within the scope of reporting it to the police then I'm going to the police and the employer every single time. I'm not confronting the person, because I'll end up in a scrap with them (very likely not initiated by me, I must stress) and the evidence will magically disappear (yes, it is "quite an easy thing to ask you to remove your comment" )

Hi, I don't believe I actually said anything racist but may have called someone an idiot or an !!!!!!. The reason for that was I was trying to have a debate and I was asking questions (respectfully) but was simply called a white supremacist who can't understand how black people feel and those words offended me and I guess I used language I shouldn't...which I have to own up to. Also it wasn't a colleague, it was on a public forum, nothing to do with work and a random person managed to find my old linked in profile to see where I worked and complained that way

Snow_Phoenix

It sounds as if someone external to the company has taken offence to the comments on social media and has pointed this out to the employer that it could be a reflection on their values if employing people with certain beliefs/values by looking up where the OP works on linked in. A lot of companies now have within their terms and conditions to be aware of what you are posting on social media for this reason and not to put anything out which does not align with their company values. There have been lots of cases in the media where old posts which have resurfaced to cause some people to need to explain their rational.

It sounds like OP was just trying to debate something in an open forum and was suggested by another poster to have extreme views. I guess without knowing the subject matter and what the was actually said which resulted in this response it is difficult to comment. Next time just try respond by refuting the claim rather than using further language which could cause further offence. It may be OP profile is marked as private but the area they were discussing the matter was an open page or the person raising the complaint has copied over the information for the employer to see.  

I think definitely a break from social media would be beneficial and if still going on their thinking through what is being posted if your details can easily identify who you are. Lots of companies are now looking at social media as part of their employment vetting process as lots of emails on application forms are the same ones they use to sign into social media accounts. 

It is a hard way for OP to learn the lesson and hopefully the matter gets resolved in just a discussion and clarification of what was meant. 

ScottishGuy1122

Thanks, I'll let you know how my "chat" goes tomorrow. It does seem strange though that they called me on Friday and were a bit vague saying "someone has made an allegation you posted a comment on linkedin which could be deemed racist" which is why I was initially puzzled as I don't use linkedin, I then suggested it may be a Facebook comment to which say said "can you just delete any of the posts" and seemed fairly normal, then just said thank you and "well have another chat on monday"

I can't tell if they have a screenshot, it would explain then being a bit vague about the comment and not immediately doing the investigatory interview right there and then if they had evidence.

Guess I won't know until the chat tomorrow.

sharpe106

Adamthom85 said:

I can't tell if they have a screenshot, it would explain then being a bit vague about the comment and not immediately doing the investigatory interview right there and then if they had evidence.

Guess I won't know until the chat tomorrow.

Probably as they wanted to go home for the weekend or to give them chance to decide what they want to do.

ScottishGuy1122

sharpe106 said:

Adamthom85 said:

I can't tell if they have a screenshot, it would explain then being a bit vague about the comment and not immediately doing the investigatory interview right there and then if they had evidence.

Guess I won't know until the chat tomorrow.

Probably as they wanted to go home for the weekend or to give them chance to decide what they want to do.

To be fair that's what I had thought as the call was at 5pm Friday, so I think they may have just got the complaint, with evidence etc and didn't have time to go through everything but wanted to make sure it was taken down so no more complaints until monday  

cymruchris

If it’s a reasonable sized firm with a decent HR department - The first thing that should happen is your formal investigationary interview where the facts can be established. This should be sat down somewhere private, with a record of the conversation made in the form of notes that you can inspect, review and amend if necessary before the interview is concluded.

 It’s here they should present their evidence and ask questions around the incident. Technically it would have been better not to have mentioned it you informally just before the weekend - would have been better if they’d kept it to themselves until monday, for your sake of not worrying about it all weekend. What they will have to establish is whether anything you’ve done, said or posted has significantly caused damage, or will likely cause significant damage to the company. If you’ve said something inappropriate in public - it may not be sufficient to dismiss you, if it’s not directly related to the company itself.

 The purpose of your initial meeting is to gather facts, ask questions, that will then allow them to go forward and review the details, to come to a disciplinary decision should it be needed. If it had been something they thought was immensely serious, I would have expected them to call you in on Friday afternoon, and suspend you immediately pending investigation on Monday. They haven’t done this, so although they might deem it serious, they might not deem it as dismissible. The important thing on your Monday meeting is to be open and honest. If you’ve said something you regret, apologise for it. Ensure you make it clear what your meaning behind your post was, as words can often be misconstrued on the Internet, but do bear in mind that any explanation you give must be plausible. If it sounds like it’s come from cloud cuckoo land - they might take a dim view of it. Stay calm, see what happens, ensure the record of the meeting is factual, ensure all your points are recorded honestly and appropriately. Try not to get emotional. Update us as to your progress once your first meeting has concluded.