Twitter

[shiznit]

A colleague has made an official complaint against me regarding comments i made on my twitter page which involved them. It was done using my iPhone, not company internet, our company is not mentioned and the person in question does not "follow" me nor I them, they have have actively searched me out to view said comments

Where do i stand legally?, as far as i am aware this should not fall under any kind of work related issue/disciplinary proceedings

Thank you in advance

[JustJenni]

unless your company states in your contract that you arent aloud to post things on the internet im pretty sure they cant fire you over it.

[shiznit]

Additional info, I have removed all comments made, plus other members of staff have also posted comments about the same person, and on comments I have made, these have also been removed. As far as I am aware it is only myself that is being targeted over this issue

[factor-fiction]

I age it's not a work issue at the moment. However, in the highly unlikely event that you are charged with something there may be something in your contract about what can happen.

[shiznit]

Thanks for your answers. I agree with you about the contract, there is no mention of it in there. I'll let you know what happens after my meeting

[factor-fiction]

Hi- it may not be mentioned specifically in the summary document you probably signed but it may well be mentioned in the Conditions of Employment handbook or similar documents.

When you say you are having a meeting, is that with your employer? So has a work colleague made a complaint to your manager? If you both work there then I can see that the employer may need to follow it up if the allegations are of a bullying nature.

Anyway, good luck and I'll look out for an update

[woofgang]

Even if not prohibited by your contract, surely not a good idea?

[shiznit]

Your probably right woofgang!. To be honest, the guy stresses me out so much at work, that i used the rants on Twitter as a kind of stress relief, with no intention of him ever seeing them. It was another colleague who for some sick reason gave him the heads up on it. There are lots of other reasons for the situation, the guy in question seems to rub everyone up at work, I think seeing what people think about him has come as a shock so he is puling the stress at work card. I have spoke to a solicitor and whilst still a grey area, social network policing is not something that can be enforced by companies, unless company internet usage policy has been breeched. Which in this case, it hasn't.

[bednobs]

TBH if i realised that my colleagues were using public fora to complain about me and i was identifiable, i would be very stressed too!
Can you imagine how you would feel in his shoes?
personally i disagree with the others - it is a grey area therefore i think they COULD use it

[shiznit]

Would you also consider changing your ways, and maybe not causing your colleagues to voice there opinions. This has been going on for years, the common denominator in all of this is the guy who has made the allegations. Everyone else gets on fine, there are no arguments between us, and work well as a team. Yes it could be deemed as stressful to him, but trust me, he has brought it upon himself. There is so much more to all of this, the Twitter thing is just something that has happened to come up this week.

He has even named a couple of managers in all of this, who been nothing but professional in their conduct. As for being identifiable, a nickname was used, and not one to which he is openly called.

The common consensus is that he after leaving and gaining some kind of payoff, something which has been done before, but on much more justifiable grounds.

[boxtops]

There may be something here about bringing your company into disrepute by making adverse comments about people on a public forum - a person I used to work with made derogatory comments about colleagues on Facebook and ended up with a disciplinary hearing for it. It doesn't matter whether they used company computers or not (they didn't), it was acting in a non-professional manner which got them into trouble.

[bednobs]

i'm presuming it wasn't a very flattering nickname either then :)
I can see why you are dismayed but i think it's the dismay of being found talking about someone behind their back!!
they are not really "allegations" if they are true"

[shiznit]

You presume wrong, it was a nondescript name, which had no bearing to him one way or the other. The comments made were of a banter/observation comedic type. I say allegations, because that it is how it has been worded in the meeting.

You cannot bring your company into disrepute if it is not mentioned or identifiable in any way, which it is not.

I don't have FB, I like Twitter because you are supposed to be able to just tweet rubbish, and musings etc, like an online diary sort of.

Anyway, its out of my hands now, I'll let you all know if i get sacked

Cheers

[boxtops]

"I like Twitter because you are supposed to be able to just tweet rubbish, and musings etc, like an online diary sort of."

That's exactly why I couldn't be bothered with it myself - why do people do it, who reads it? - millions obviously but I don't understand why!

Anyway - good luck shiznit, let us know how you get on.

[shiznit]

Thanks Boxtops, it really has opened a can of worms here. I think HR are struggling with it as well. I feel really stupid now, but as we all know hindsight is a wonderful thing. Ive got a lot of support from colleagues and my manager so fingers crossed. I will certainly be a lot more careful in the future about what i write and where

Shiz

[ummmm]

Yes....you must ALWAYS be careful what you write on the net. You never know who's reading :-)

[bednobs]

hi shiz, i hope things work out well for you.

[bednobs]

ps if you, your company or him aren't identifiable then just deny deny deny!

[shiznit]

Got another meeting now, to discuss commits made on twitter. Bullying and harassment in the workplace has been mentioned. Looks like my ass is grass