Note: This post is a continuation of a two-part article from the August issue of our monthly newsletter “StraightForward.” To access it, go to our Facebook page, click on the “Newsletter” tab and scroll to “Forward Thinking.”

Job-personnel changes continue to make news. Most could be avoided with a little common sense, while others involve a thorough understanding of employee rights, as well as company policies on ethics, Internet usage and social networking. Termination over social media can be a public-relations nightmare for companies, especially when the terminated feels wronged.

In the case of Swann (below), she never mentioned the company’s name in her social-networking updates, so the firm wasn’t necessarily cast in a bad light. But when the company fired Swann, negative publicity ensued. In the end, the mountain of bad press might’ve been avoidable had the employer handled the situation differently. In fact, some might say that the company brought more bad press upon itself by acting versus not doing anything at all.

Here are a few basic rules of etiquette to keep your social networking out of the news:

1. Don’t speak ill of your boss, manager or coworkers.
2. Do keep your personal and professional networking separate; this may require separate accounts and/or services. It may also mean removing friends’ questionable comments on your wall.
3. Don’t share company information with friends.
4. Do be selective when accepting invitations to network with others.
5. Don’t post photos of yourself engaging in illegal acts or acts that are contrary to company codes/policies.
6. Do be considerate of others when posting content; treat them like you would face-to-face.
7. Don’t release confidential information.
8. Do be careful what you post, as well as who can see your posts. Raise your privacy settings and/or segment your online friends into groups.
9. Don’t use social media excessively.
10. Do be cautious of when you post, which means avoiding social networking at work if it is discouraged. If you are an employer, develop and inform employees of your social-media policies. If you are an employee, follow up with your supervisor or human resources for a copy of said policies.

Many have become shocked and puzzled over employers’ decisions in the face of workers’ social networking, often citing First Amendment rights; however, the First Amendment only restricts government control of speech. Balancing job termination, just cause and free expression gets sticky when employees choose the publicly accessible Internet as the forum.

Furthermore, the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) mandates that company-provided computer systems are the properties of employers. In other words, Internet privacy at work is basically nonexistent. What is done on company time is subject to monitoring. In fact, 66 percent of bosses monitor employees’ Internet activities (AMA/ePolicy Institute).

Consider these well-known examples of privacy-settings mismanagement:

ASHLEY JOHNSON
Waitress was fired over Facebook comments that were in violation of her company’s policy, which prohibits workers from speaking disparagingly about customers and from casting the restaurant in a bad light on social networks. In her post, Johnson allegedly spoke negatively of customers at Charlotte’s Brixx Pizza, where she received a mere $5 tip after staying an hour past her shift to wait on a group of customers that had been there for three hours. While Johnson posted this on her time without mentioning names, she was Facebook friends with her manager, who checked her wall.

MATTHEW AZANNO
Prison guard at Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Correctional Facility was released for posting Facebook comments with racial slurs aimed at co-workers and inmates.

KIMBERLY SWANN
Office worker was excited to have a new job at Ivell Marketing & Logistics in Essex, Great Britain, until she started performing menial tasks (e.g., filing, stapling, etc.). Her Facebook updates were clear indicators of her dissatisfaction:

• “first day at work. omg…!!! So dull!!”
• “all i do is shred holepunch n scan paper!!! omg!”
• “i’m so totally bored!!!”

According to Swann, her boss, Stephen Ivell, said, “I have seen your comments on Facebook, and I don’t want my company being in the news.” Ivell responded, “We were looking for a long-term relationship with Miss Swann… Her display of disrespect and dissatisfaction undermined the relationship, and made it untenable.”

JASON BROWN
Firefighter-paramedic in South Carolina’s Colleton County was dismissed after supervisors were alerted to a three-minute, animated video that he had created and posted on Facebook. Brown claimed that the video, which was not based on specific colleagues or staff, depicted an exaggerated version of real-life experiences for EMS. Said Colleton County Fire-Rescue Director Barry McRoy, “This video has created an embarrassing situation for this department [and] our public image… It reflects poorly.”

CHARLIE BARROW
Employment for this trader at Goldman Sachs was terminated due to social-media addiction. Having spent too much time on social media at work, Barrow received a letter of warning from his employer, which he promptly posted on his social profile.

FARM BOY EMPLOYEES
Various employees of an Ottawa, Canada, grocery chain were fired for posting comments in an “I Got Farm Boy’d” discussion forum on Facebook. Employee Devon Bourgeois was an active participant in the group, which is “for current and past employees of Farm Boy…to share experiences, discuss topics and even have a place to express their opinions as guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” Bourgeois reportedly admitted theft in several posts, but he claimed that his post for a hypothetical topic was taken literally (as a confessional).

MATH BLAHUT
A cadet for Washington State Patrol uploaded to Facebook photos of himself in uniform. Some of those photos, however, included him partying and drinking out of a beer pitcher. While his acts weren’t illegal, a local man saw his daughter browsing the photos, which he deemed inappropriate. The father’s complaint was taken seriously by Captain Jeff DeVere, “Judgment and integrity are big parts of a trooper’s job. Putting these types of pictures (online)…does not show good judgment.” According to the patrol unit, new hires are taught to be careful about what they post online, and it repeatedly warns what constitutes unacceptable behavior. Furthermore, along with financial and criminal records, the department checks websites, such as Facebook, as part of extensive background checks.

MATTHEW WINCKLER
A police officer in Kennewick, Washington, was also let go for posting comments about the maturity of his academy classmates. He later admitted his comments were “unprofessional and shouldn’t have been written in the first place. I made a mistake[,]…and I received my just due for that mistake.”

CHERYL JAMES
Professional at Michigan’s Oakwood Hospital provided treatment for a charged criminal, which prompted her to post outbursts about coming face-to-face with a “cop killer.” After James’ boss saw the comments, she removed them too late. James, “The reason they gave me was that I violated HIPAA regulations by disseminating protected health information about a patient on a public forum[, along with] disparaging and disrespectful remarks.” A hospital statement indicated, “We all have a legal and ethic responsibility to put our personal opinions aside and [to] provide the care required for any patient who has entrusted us with their health.”

CAITLIN DAVIS
New England Patriots cheerleader was terminated after promiscuous photos surfaced on Facebook, then made their way to Deadspin.com and Davis’ supervisors. In a related incident, British Airways released several crew members for posing for raunchy photos, which were posted on a porn site. Apparently, the photos were collected over time by fans of the site, and were set to be publicly viewable by mistake. By mismanaging privacy settings, strangers were able to access the exclusive photos, as well as share them publicly. Due to the power of the Internet, content can spread like wildfire.

CONNOR RILEY
After an interview and resulting job offer with Cisco Systems, she tweeted about hating the job and commute, but loving the “fatty paycheck.” A partner advocate for Cisco Alert later discovered the tweet, and the job offer was rescinded.

JON-BARRETT INGELS
Waiter at Beverly Hills’ Barney Greengrass was fired for tweeting sarcastic and offensive remarks about Hollywood stars who frequented the restaurant.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC EMPLOYEES
Thirteen staff members were charged with bringing “the company into disrepute” in a discussion group on Facebook. In various posts, staff members called passengers names, cited the planes as being full of cockroaches and claimed that a jet’s engines were replaced four times in a year. Virgin Atlantic, “There is a time and a place for Facebook. But there is no justification for it to be used as a sounding board for staff…[or] to criticize the very passengers who…pay their salaries.”

TBK
Office worker for a St. Louis nonprofit organization went to great lengths to separate her office and personal lives. On her own time, TBK (alias) blogged about her polyamorous escapades. Then, she created a Twitter profile. Upon registration, she filled out her real name, assuming that only her username would be visible (not her true identity).

When her real name appeared, she quickly adjusted the name field; however, Twitter search engine Topsy had already cached the details. Her name soon appeared next to her username. (When users update their bios on Twitter, there is no automated update mechanism to inform third parties like Topsy. To update information on Topsy, users must sync their accounts.) When corporate instructed TBK’s boss to Google his employees, it didn’t take long to discover TBK’s blog — complete with graphic, erotic images that contradicted the nonprofit’s mission.

Additional Reading/Resources
For more information about privacy settings and social media, check out a related article in the “Forward Thinking” section from the May issue of “StraightForward.”