Loose lips sink ships

A recent case where Fair Work Australia (FWA) upheld the dismissal of an employee who made offensive comments about a manager on Facebook is a timely reminder to be careful what you say about people in the workplace on social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

Fair Work Australia commented that the separation between work and home was much less pronounced than it used to be and it made no difference that the comments made were out of hours or on the employee’s own computer.

As several of the employee’s Facebook friends were work colleagues Fair Work Australia pointed out that he would have been well aware of the consequences of his actions.

Remember, what you write on Facebook will be in the public domain for years to come. Employers often check potential employees’ Facebook accounts as a kind of character reference. An angry or inappropriate outburst may well come back to haunt you in the future.