Susoended from work

Jellytott · 19 May 2017 at 9:24AM

I have just been suspended for a post on Facebook, There is no contract only a verbal agreement through an agency to start with.
There has been no information regarding grievence a staff handbook or anything at all except start this day , wages are and hours are I did not even know what holiday they gave.
I have a Facebook which is entirely private or friends only.
Also it does not have work on it or any work colleagues.
It is also in a different name which they do not know.
One of my friends (no longer a friend ) sent my boss my rant Friday which others posted things , it does not mention any names or who they are and no one knows where i work , except one so called friend who i find out since was the major backstabber in another company where i worked with her.
When i got into work weds i was pulled into a meeting involving half the staff and asked if i had posted something.
I admitted i had a conversation with a few friends none of which was public and that the paper he was waving about i could not comment on as some may have been amended and he would not know if they had as it had been made public by someone else by sending it to someone else to then send to my boss.
I was told to get out.
I have not seen this paperwork but are suspended on pay while they investigate.
They have not given me a copy or shown me it.
It is not on the internet and now and i have also culled my friends list of which only two were in our local town and this was never to view by anyone else but friends.
Some of the friends comments were pretty harsh but they were joking about.
What can i do while suspended, i have no sight of the paper sent to him , i cannot investigate whether this was doctored , I have from Wednesday off next week for a holiday can i carry on with my life during the booked holiday time?
There was nothing said about how long or anything i am not allowed to contact employees there's only a few work there.
This means that half there including me in the office and the fact hes mentioned it to others there has in effect made it impossible to return to work.
I am not allowed to contact other people in the office who are of a different company
I am not allowed to talk to any of our clients.
There was no indication how long this would be.
There was indicated that the company would suffer their reputation (but i did not make it public and it is no different to backlashing about work with people outside work) , there is no policy or written information and possibly the time they are spending now is making this to cover themselves.
Can i go out and carry on with life while i am off.
They asked for my address so they could send me the hearing date.
I would not come back while i was on booked leave , will that be an issue
I did apologise that they have seen something private and said although i am sorry you had seen this i am unable to explain anything until i see the document.
I can private message more details of what i said but it was private until another made that a whole different scenario!
I have not quite been there 2 years so i understand job hunting might be in order as i have no real rights before the 2 years

IAmWales · 19 May 2017 at 10:17AM

Your friends are the public, and they know where you work.

Posting about work on social media is *always* a very bad idea.

I doubt your suspension will be long if they're paying you, they'll be consulting with HR to play things by the book (although they don't even need to do that) and then call you in for a meeting. If you don't attend they can continue in your absence.

I'd be looking for another job, and staying off social media in future.

Gavin83 · 19 May 2017 at 10:20AM

What did you (roughly) say on your Facebook post?

You post something online it's considered public, even if your profile is set to private. Considering you haven't even been there for two years it's easy to get rid of you so I'd try and not aggravate them in any way and apologize for what you wrote. Of course, depending on what your answer to my first question is it may already be too late.

Fireflyaway · 19 May 2017 at 10:25AM

Someone at my work did the same and was fired. I don't believe social media can ever be private. Once something is in the hands of other people anything can happen.
I think all you can do is apologise and abide by the request not to contact anyone etc. I would suggest job hunting just in case. Its impossible to know the outcome. Some companies are more lenient than others. Most bof us have messed up at one time or other. You will bounce back.

jobbingmusician · 19 May 2017 at 10:30AM

You are suspended while an INVESTIGATION is carried out. If the investigation leads to a disciplinary, you should be given full details of the allegations against you, and you will then get to see what the company are complaining about.

You are clearly guilty of bringing your company into disrepute (sorry!) as one of your FB 'friends' has forwarded what you describe as a 'rant' to your boss. Obviously the company will react to this - and the post was obviously more 'public' than you realised if someone has complained about it. I would not think it necessary to have a published policy which specifically stops employees from bringing the company into disrepute, and in any case you have no employment rights, as you know.

In order to cancel your leave, the employer needs to give you notice of at least as long as the booked leave, so if you are off next Wed for a week, your employer cannot cancel this. Yes, go out and carry on life as normal (obviously avoiding contact with prohibited people as far as possible.)

And yes, job hunting is in order, I'm afraid...... If you are dismissed, you can be upfront with future employers, saying that what you thought was a private conversation turned out not to be.

(WHEN will people learn not to talk about work on social media? :wall: )

London50 · 19 May 2017 at 10:53AM

People will never learn will they, post your feelings and at the first chance someone will drop you in it be it with your so called friends or family or your work.
When people start to understand just how much damage can be done with a throw away remark that done verbally can be lost/forgotten in a short time information {good or bad} is forever out in cyber space and {as in this case} can come back to bite {and bite hard in some cases} at any time.
People need to learn to count to 10 then {if needed the same again} before putting ANYTHING out online that could/will effect future freindships/work situations ect.

xapprenticex · 19 May 2017 at 10:55AM

Wow, cant believe we still have adult workers with Facebook, ranting and being surprised when they lose their job. Its almost as bad as doing business with that Nigerian guy who emails us all.

[Deleted User] · 19 May 2017 at 10:57AM

If people took the view that posting on Facebook was the equivalent to standing in a cafe/pub and shouting then maybe they might consider what they said more.

Guest101 · 19 May 2017 at 11:09AM

It depends what was said, but the OP obviously knows what they said, so im unsure why they're skirting around the issue.

Jellytott · 19 May 2017 at 11:09AM

I actually know if i had stood up and ranted all the !!!! in his face it would have been fine lol...the fact that i do not like to confront someone who is not listening , disrespectful of other workers in front of other workers and what i said if anyone is interested was a gross unfairness done to one staff member the week before he tired to fix by then doing the same to me....and if he did not learn in a day which he then forgot and did again it is a sad world...i cant post what they did for obvious reasons , yes i should have stood up and spat that lot out in his face , but i try and stay away from conflict after being a victim of domestic violence for 16 years......but good on the holiday thing thank you yes i am an adult and i made a mistake just like most people do every day in their lives the difference being most of us learn from it and i have no one else to rant to so i guess as they just rant openly about each other behind their backs , I have got used to this being normal, now i need to pull the big girl pants up and not let myself sink to that level again!

Jellytott · 19 May 2017 at 11:13AM

ringo_24601 wrote: »

If people took the view that posting on Facebook was the equivalent to standing in a cafe/pub and shouting then maybe they might consider what they said more.

This would have been a better idea but in the office at work , he seems to respect people who do that....and would have just been a normal day then!

Susoended from work

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