Social media and work

jacsll55

I posted on my FB about a common scam that is happening in the recruitment of healthcare workers where the agencies charge money for recruitment which is illegal as per employment act.
One such agent had heated argument with me as someone mentioned his name and details as a comment. Nothing to do with my original post as it was a general one and did not identify anyone.
The recruitment agency who is under investigation by EAS thinks I reported him, he has now complained to my employer about my FB post, (I work for a Govt department) My manager has called me for a meeting.
Any similar experiences, any advice please.
I am not worried as I have not broken any rules or law. just bothers me...

Undervalued

What exactly are your employer's rules about social media? Only somebody who knows those can tell you if you have broken any of their rules. Some employers may have very tight rules policies whereas others are far more relaxed.

Otherwise, providing what you posted was true and not deliberately misleading then it is difficult to see that the agency has any claim but that is not to say they won't try. Libel and privacy laws are very much the province of the rich and can be a dangerous area for those of more modest means.

General advice is to keep your social media and work completely separate and remember that anything you do outside of work is your employer's business if it brings them into disrepute.

BoGoF

How did the person find out who your employer was? As a Government employee I'm sure you are aware of the advice not to 'advertise' where you work in your profile. Does your job have anything to do with healthcare workers? If so, getting into a public 'heated argument' is probably not a great idea.

400ixl

Step 1 would be to take a copy of the full FB thread and then delete it.

That way if you have broken the company rules for social media posting (which often includes not posting on work related matters and not bringing the company into disrepute) you can at least say you have taken it down as soon as you understood there could be an issue with it.

Marvel1

After doing what 400ixl said, remove your employer from your profile.

Then look into your profile settings, this is mine - anyone not on my friends can't see anything apart from profile photo, friends can only see my friend list and my own posts, nothing personal.

pinkshoes

jacsll55 said:

I posted on my FB about a common scam that is happening in the recruitment of healthcare workers where the agencies charge money for recruitment which is illegal as per employment act.
One such agent had heated argument with me as someone mentioned his name and details as a comment. Nothing to do with my original post as it was a general one and did not identify anyone.
The recruitment agency who is under investigation by EAS thinks I reported him, he has now complained to my employer about my FB post, (I work for a Govt department) My manager has called me for a meeting.
Any similar experiences, any advice please.
I am not worried as I have not broken any rules or law. just bothers me...

As mentioned, check the privacy of your FB account. 

On your profile page, click on the three little dots (...) then "View as" and it will show you what the public can see. If the public can see more than you want them to, then follow the above post to change the privacy of certain categories.

Ultimately, take a print out of the post to the meeting, make it clear you made a post about a common healthcare recruitment scam to highlight the issue to anyone it might affect, and that it was a general post and you did not name anyone. 

The bit I've highlighted in bold - what do you mean by a heated argument? What did you say in response? Did you keep all your public comments calm and polite?? Depending on your response will be what might or might not get you in trouble. 

GingerTim

A labour lawyer writes

https://uklabourlawblog.com/2018/06/22/i-lost-my-job-over-a-facebook-post-was-that-fair/

Vectis

I suppose I could add to that and ask, when did you have this heated argument on FB?

Was it during work time?

Marvel1

pinkshoes said:

jacsll55 said:

I posted on my FB about a common scam that is happening in the recruitment of healthcare workers where the agencies charge money for recruitment which is illegal as per employment act.
One such agent had heated argument with me as someone mentioned his name and details as a comment. Nothing to do with my original post as it was a general one and did not identify anyone.
The recruitment agency who is under investigation by EAS thinks I reported him, he has now complained to my employer about my FB post, (I work for a Govt department) My manager has called me for a meeting.
Any similar experiences, any advice please.
I am not worried as I have not broken any rules or law. just bothers me...

On your profile page, click on the three little dots (...) then "View as" and it will show you what the public can see. If the public can see more than you want them to, then follow the above post to change the privacy of certain categories.

I couldn't remember how to get to it, but this is mine viewed as a public member who is not friends with me -: Profile photo and name, they will also see the wall photo (I don't have one).

TELLIT01

Basic rules everybody should apply to social media in my opinion are

1.  Never identify your employer

2. Never access social media from any work device

3. Never accuse anybody of anything unless you have cast iron proof that what you are saying is entirely true.

4. Never post what anybody has said to you as being fact.

GingerTim

mortgageFTB said:

Any social media, especially if posting in a public place, should be using an anonymous account. 

Never post publicly as the real you.

if that means 1 FB account for friends and family and 1FB account for any public commenting you want to do, then so be it.

Everything and anything is always immortalised on the internet. 

This recent thread being a good warning: 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80432991/#Comment_80432991