It never fails to amaze me that companies would rather waste time and energy chasing a vociferous employee rather than tackling the issue(s) that are the cause of the dissent!

Suggest they fix the food problem and the employee causing it rather than chasing you.

if using a works pc then its possible they know your passwords and all sites you are visiting and any other user names this may never be an issue till someone makes a complaint then 1 press of a button and all your history is clear to see.

This is partly true. If they take on your username and password and access your personal data (eg facebook) then they’d be open to all sorts of privacy issues. They do however have the right to log your history and then review that if necessary, so long as they’ve told you they do that in their internet usage policy.

The best thing to do when you have a possible disciplinary about what you’ve posted on Facebook is to post about it on an even more open website.

hora – Member

OP considering you posted on FB you are now linking/commenting on here albeit without the company name discussing the situation on a public forum.

Yes, exactly what Hora said – discussing that you may be in the cack for posting work related stuff on public websites on another public website isn’t really that bright is it 😆

i dont see the point of it other than posting rude/unpleasant/offensive material. its a good way to take the piss with mates you probably dont get to see that much. anyone posting serious stuff or inane nonsense get removed. i use an alias too. all the people that matter to me know who i am, all the nobs from other walks of life dont. if anyone at work asks if im on facebook its a swift ‘no’. unless they have become a genuine friend of course.

absolutely no help there, sorry.

As others have said dont say anything on social media or E:mail, or anything written at all that you wouldnt like to see on the notice board.
Dont often agree with Grum but as he says if they didnt want to sack you before they are unlikely to now. If they did then you are a gonner and I cant help but see the irony in you posting here.
Anyway learn the lesson and I hope it works out for you.

Something I was told on the very first day of my first proper job:

“Never write anything down that you wouldn’t be happy hearing read out in court”

I fail to see how this is any different from me posting on facebook that the sandwich shop down the road is crap. Appreciate that both companies are contracted by the same company but still? All you have done is posted a review?

Hypothetically speaking, I would suggest you get a union rep on standby. Some unions may hypothetically let you join in a sudden rush of panic and be happy to represent you.

Make sure that your hypothetical union rep is clued up about tbe disciplinary process. If any hypothetical sanctions are fair you can take it on the chin and learn from your hypothetical error. If the hypothetical sanctions are too hard, then the hypothetical union rep will be able to tie tbem up in knots to help you.

You may then want to hypothetically change your username on here so that any hypothetical cock up is harder to trace.

Hypothetically. 😳

Starting a public discussion on here about a potential disciplinary issue with your employer is not going to help you. I would ask the mods to delete this thread immediately.

You could claim your FB page was hacked and you never said that – if it isn’t too late. Were you using a work computer or your own ?

This shouldn’t be more than a warning – hardly gross misconduct.

I have been on the other side of these things in years past and the sensible people say nothing, and admit nothing that can’t be verified.

“Never write anything down that you wouldn’t be happy hearing read out in court”

While i agree….. Would it really bother you if “the cook here is crap” was read out in court…..

I agree with above , i also subscribe to – if i wouldnt tell the person face to face then it doesnt go on facebook….

Again id probably tell him his food was crap if it was bad enough i wrote on facebook about it,

I would have thought that unless alluding to a supplier and their subcontractors is specifically covered by the acceptable use / social media policy the grounds for a disciplinary are quite weak.

i haven’t bad mouthed my employer, it’s an individual from another company who is contracted to the same worksite as me by the worksite owner who are themselves another different company.

I’m failing to see what on earth it’s got to do with your employer, then. Have you considered telling them to foxtrot oscar and if they don’t want bad press then they should stop making shit food?

What stumpyjon said + your approach should be very apologetic, own up and say you wont do it again. But also in the same investigation (if it gets to that) say that the food really was inedible and you were very frustrated, as are many people, that the company is doing nothing about it. If you are employed by a contractor who owns said site they site owner may ask for you to be replaced by another contractor. Its likely to be disciplinary but dismissal will depend on contract and policies as previously said but unlikely if you are a permanent employee.

FB is a minefield, My Missus has gotten herself in trouble recently with our eldest’s school over the most benign of FB posts (actually other people’s misinterpretation and stupid responses)…

Most organisations are now very conscious of how their employees conduct themselves on FB or Twitter can be seen as a reflection of the organisation as a whole…

My employers seem to have recently lifted the block on FB, but there’s no way I’ll be using it from a work computer.

IMO, use FB to keep in touch with people, share the odd photo with friends or family maybe but Do not post opinions or say anything negative about anybody, you simply don’t know which “Friend of a Friend” will share what you write with others, or how people may interpret / misunderstand what you write…

Nobody of any importance ever looks at STW so you can write what you like on here and you’ll be golden…

I’d expect a moderate bollocking if I were you OP, but dismissal would be unlikely I’d have thought, and would probably not stand up at a tribunal…

Other than ‘people’ taking umbrage have you had anything official from HR? Or are you fretting on what might be?

You might be doing Porridge, new internet laws and all that rubbish, unless that was your initial complaint the breakfast was lousy.

You need to change your wall paper for starters

“Never write anything down that you wouldn’t be happy hearing read out in court”
I just got bollocked for a court attendance note I have done on a moderately serious case. The offending phrase was ” after two hours of the by now usual cluster **** the case was adjourned with no clear outcome cps do to “something” by next time.” that note could conceivably be read out in open court if by me it will depend on the judge whether I chose to para phrase or read verbatim.

It is really good advise to assume all social media is published to your friends family current and future employers .

I just said on FB that I’m boycotting the cafe at work because the man who made my coffee was rude once too often! I haven’t mentioned who I work for or what chain the cafe belongs to.

It’s still a real grey area – some places contracts say you can’t discuss anything about your work on social media – a blanket ban that’s they know is almost impossible for their employees to follow but allows them to discipline you if they don’t like what you’ve said.

If you haven’t signed anything like that it’s more vague – and a lot of it depends on your settings on FB – if your account is private and your posts cannot be seen by anyone who’s not a friend of yours then they can’t claim that you’ve made a statement about them in public – some places – typically the smaller ones can get all uppity when people bemoan their jobs on FB if they’re ‘friends’ with their colleagues – but they can’t ban anyone from moaning about work – everyone does it – the exception is if you’re in a management role where you’re meant to sing from the handbook a bit.

As for the OP – hasn’t signed a non-social media contract, never been in trouble before – no way they’ll claim gross misconduct for that!

I wonder if he got away with it?

well remembered cheesy….. would be interesting to know. I do a lot of work for a very large law firm and they are very strict on this sort of thing – plenty have lost their jobs as a result.

Shoot the messenger has always been company policy.

Why can’t people follow these threads up dammit!

Social media and work issues\ gripes can be a dodgy mix. Key thing to remember is its not like moaning to your mate(s) down the pub or on a ride. It’s anything from putting a poster up to taking an add out in the national papers. It’s also all down to privacy settings, and the common sense of your “friends” in thinking before they’re electronically blabbing your gripes all over the net.

I had to have a quiet word with one of my workmates after an ill considered rant on social media. Basically if its about work and you wouldn’t say it to a member of management, don’t put it on the internet. A lot of this comes down to reputational management and the views of the business in protecting their image \ brand

Well, it seems the OP’s gone AWOL, so I vote he was banged to rights and now ‘sharing the soap’ with big Vern in A wing