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

ScottishGuy1122

Deleted_User said:

If it's very serious, they'll be making sure they have the process absolutely right before contacting you.  

You can't read anything into it either way. You just need to wait.

Yeah, I just thought that if it was that serious they would have told me I'm having an investigation where they can access and look at all the comments, getting everything, and have me suspended in the mean time, that would still give them plenty of time to get the process right and with me suspended I couldn't interfere...

I don't think they have seen the evidence as they said several times it was LinkedIn and just told me to delete any post I may have made. Which would prevent any information gathering.

But you're right, I can't read too much into either side and simply won't know until they contact me.

IrishSean

Unless it's overtly racist or boarders on criminal investigation (which is highly unlikely, offensive electronic communication is a grey area at the best of times), then it's unlikely to go anywhere. 
If you look at bloggers, You-tubers and the likes, they were proven to have made racist comments and many have come back. Employers are often as equally concerned about tribunals and the risk of heavy-handedness in non-company related matters. 

That aside, I was told by an IT colleague years ago that a growing area is social media info mining and 'image control' where employers investigate before employing someone while other ppl hire companies to 'clean' their social media footprint. A wise idea for those seeking to work for a large company or climb a corporate ladder. 

I like the turn off the stop-!!!!!! analogy: if they ask you to delete / close social media accounts to protect yourself and them? That's a very reasonable request.

I still don't think you've much to worry about unless the 2 criteria (direct impact on company OR worthy of criminal referral) are met. 

ScottishGuy1122

IrishSean said:

Unless it's overtly racist or boarders on criminal investigation (which is highly unlikely, offensive electronic communication is a grey area at the best of times), then it's unlikely to go anywhere. 
If you look at bloggers, You-tubers and the likes, they were proven to have made racist comments and many have come back. Employers are often as equally concerned about tribunals and the risk of heavy-handedness in non-company related matters. 

That aside, I was told by an IT colleague years ago that a growing area is social media info mining and 'image control' where employers investigate before employing someone while other ppl hire companies to 'clean' their social media footprint. A wise idea for those seeking to work for a large company or climb a corporate ladder. 

I like the turn off the stop-!!!!!! analogy: if they ask you to delete / close social media accounts to protect yourself and them? That's a very reasonable request.

I still don't think you've much to worry about unless the 2 criteria (direct impact on company OR worthy of criminal referral) are met. 

I not said anything to directly impact the company I.e I've not mentioned them, my job, colleagues etc and it was an unrelated post, it definitely isn't criminal even saying to someone they are an f-ing dip(poo) and as a black man should show responsibility for your own failures which many don't.

Even that I couldn't say could be criminal and that's about as bad as it could be..maybe a few extra swear words at worst....but it's all deleted. 

squirrelchops2

Sorry if I have missed it but do we know what the OP does for a job?
Certain jobs where there are codes of conduct etc then yes you could get dismissed for posting comments such as this on social media.

LABMAN

Why do people use their real names as a username and the year of their birth?

ScottishGuy1122

LABMAN said:

Why do people use their real names as a username and the year of their birth?

An error on my part as I panicked when setting this up, I have requested a new username under the provision that allows it.

ScottishGuy1122

squirrelchops2 said:

Sorry if I have missed it but do we know what the OP does for a job?
Certain jobs where there are codes of conduct etc then yes you could get dismissed for posting comments such as this on social media.

I'm not going to say what I do, but it's not a field relevant you know like working in a bank and accused of theft or something.

IrishSean

If your employer phones you, discusses it, suggests that it was perhaps ill-judged to get involved in such spats online but providing all such content across all platforms at deleted they've no grounds to take it further (which I my prediction), I would politely ask they pop an e-mail to you stating that they've discussed the matter with you and agree it is now closed.

Printed transcripts /screen grabs can read much worse than the intended sentiment. Should you have a future boss with a vindictive streak it could be dredged up again.
As they say, a verbal agreement to 'put it to bed' "isn't worth the paper it's written on"... 😂

If it were me i'd want that want closure. 

I have a friend worked in a health trust, yes, a health trust; he was junior office staff & used to banter with a female colleague who unbeknownst to him was a proper psycho. She was documenting every conversation with a view to suing her employer! It went to tribunal, what saved him was the fact they discovered she'd done it before on a previous employer. Nothing he said was sexist, vindictive or illegal, but he said said listening to jokey conversations re-read in monotone by an employment lawyer was the worst experience of his life.

Moral of the story: you cannot be too careful.

MoneySeeker1

IrishSean said:

If your employer phones you, discusses it, suggests that it was perhaps ill-judged to get involved in such spats online but providing all such content across all platforms at deleted they've no grounds to take it further (which I my prediction), I would politely ask they pop an e-mail to you stating that they've discussed the matter with you and agree it is now closed.

Printed transcripts /screen grabs can read much worse than the intended sentiment. Should you have a future boss with a vindictive streak it could be dredged up again.
As they say, a verbal agreement to 'put it to bed' "isn't worth the paper it's written on"... 😂

If it were me i'd want that want closure. 

I have a friend worked in a health trust, yes, a health trust; he was junior office staff & used to banter with a female colleague who unbeknownst to him was a proper psycho. She was documenting every conversation with a view to suing her employer! It went to tribunal, what saved him was the fact they discovered she'd done it before on a previous employer. Nothing he said was sexist, vindictive or illegal, but he said said listening to jokey conversations re-read in monotone by an employment lawyer was the worst experience of his life.

Moral of the story: you cannot be too careful.

Good advice - really good advice!

I think it's all the more important in "current times". I can certainly see that people have been "flipping" and getting much more verbally aggressive since 2008 and they are ratcheting it up mega-level in Covid Times. So protect your back...

ScottishGuy1122

MoneySeeker1 said:

IrishSean said:

If your employer phones you, discusses it, suggests that it was perhaps ill-judged to get involved in such spats online but providing all such content across all platforms at deleted they've no grounds to take it further (which I my prediction), I would politely ask they pop an e-mail to you stating that they've discussed the matter with you and agree it is now closed.

Printed transcripts /screen grabs can read much worse than the intended sentiment. Should you have a future boss with a vindictive streak it could be dredged up again.
As they say, a verbal agreement to 'put it to bed' "isn't worth the paper it's written on"... 😂

If it were me i'd want that want closure. 

I have a friend worked in a health trust, yes, a health trust; he was junior office staff & used to banter with a female colleague who unbeknownst to him was a proper psycho. She was documenting every conversation with a view to suing her employer! It went to tribunal, what saved him was the fact they discovered she'd done it before on a previous employer. Nothing he said was sexist, vindictive or illegal, but he said said listening to jokey conversations re-read in monotone by an employment lawyer was the worst experience of his life.

Moral of the story: you cannot be too careful.

Good advice - really good advice!

I think it's all the more important in "current times". I can certainly see that people have been "flipping" and getting much more verbally aggressive since 2008 and they are ratcheting it up mega-level in Covid Times. So protect your back...

Thanks

What do you guys think I should do if I've not heard anything by 5pm...surely if it was seriously they would definitely contact me asap as it's a really big company with an already well established procedure, they can be getting any more info as there isn't any. And they wouldn't have casually said they will have a chat with me Monday and not do it if it was serious.

I don't want to call them just in case it was minor and they had generally forgot to phone and were just gonna send a letter to be more careful, but if I do nothing I know I'll have another sleepless night continuing for the rest of the week in full, as I'll always be sitting there going "will they call me today and tell me it's being investigated, will they send me a letter today" etc and I really don't need that weighing on my already stressed mind.

So if I don't hear by 5, should I give the HR person a brief call or just leave it?