Author Topic: Getting Fired for Tweeting  (Read 145 times)

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Offline Michael Hardner

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Getting Fired for Tweeting
« on: October 03, 2017, 05:58:11 pm »
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/03/opinions/social-media-etiquette-opinion-alaimo/index.html?sr=twCNN100317social-media-etiquette-opinion-alaimo0627PMVODtop

Tough to put restrictions on what people can/can't say but still... everything you say on social media is 'public'.  Do you feel bad for people who get fired for statements made apart from the workplace ?

The risk is that everything becomes a witch hunt.  People with far-right and far-left opinions now have to keep them to themselves.  Eventually, I think there will be a homongenization of what people say online and it will become a truly public space.

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Re: Getting Fired for Tweeting
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2017, 11:15:24 pm »

Tough to put restrictions on what people can/can't say but still... everything you say on social media is 'public'.  Do you feel bad for people who get fired for statements made apart from the workplace ?


Depends on what they say or do.  Nazis marching in the street, ok.    The woman who was fired for tweeting that the country music fans were probably repugs so it was ok to shoot them, yes.  But not if the 'offense' is minor, simply a human having a moment of stupidity not so much, because we all say or do something stupid, something we don't really mean, from time to time.   

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Getting Fired for Tweeting
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2017, 05:51:27 am »

But it's ok to fire somebody for being in antifa or alt-right ?  I pause.

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Re: Getting Fired for Tweeting
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2017, 08:13:53 am »
But it's ok to fire somebody for being in antifa or alt-right ?  I pause.

For merely being alt-right, alt-left, antifa - definitely not.  And, for that matter should being in a Nazi organization be grounds for firing?  Maybe not.  People are fired for expressing themselves inappropriately in public, so Nazis marching is different than Nazis meeting in someone's living room.   Antifa standing passively to counter-protest is different to antifa attacking protesters or throwing things at police. 

Offline kimmy

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Re: Getting Fired for Tweeting
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2017, 09:19:43 am »
Remember a while back when some guy got fired for harassing a reporter while she was live on air. (the "**** her right in the ****!" meme.)   The reporter chewed him out, the video obtained widespread attention, people found out who he was and where he worked, and his employer fired him. (I believe he was an engineer at Ontario Hydro or something like that.)

I see this as being very similar in principle to the woman who got fired for her disgusting tweet.

There was an incident where a guy filmed himself going through the drive through at a Chick-Fil-A and harassing the teenage girl at the window over the Chick-Fil-A owner's politics. The young girl came off looking like a champ, the guy came across as a self-righteous idiot, and the video went viral for reasons rather opposite to what the guy who made the video hoped for.   People found out who he was, and he also got fired from his job. (I believe he was a software programmer or something like that.)

Did these people deserve to be fired for something they did on their own time and didn't have any direct impact on their work?
Well, once the employer's name is involved in the controversy it's a public relations headache for them as well. 

Professional athletes and executives often have code-of-conduct clauses in their conduct that allow them to be terminated for bringing bad publicity to the employer.  That might not be the case for the rank-and-file employee (although I believe the woman fired from CBS was indeed an executive level employee) but the bad publicity brought upon the employer might still make a case for "due cause" if these cases go to court.

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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Getting Fired for Tweeting
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2017, 09:29:06 am »
Remember a while back when some guy got fired for harassing a reporter while she was live on air. (the "**** her right in the ****!" meme.)   The reporter chewed him out, the video obtained widespread attention, people found out who he was and where he worked, and his employer fired him. (I believe he was an engineer at Ontario Hydro or something like that.)

I see this as being very similar in principle to the woman who got fired for her disgusting tweet.

Yes, I was thinking of that incident too when I posted.  It's similar but:
1) The guy didn't work for a media organization as a lawyer, where his objectivity would be questioned
2) It was a more rash, and less considered action than posting something

Quote
Well, once the employer's name is involved in the controversy it's a public relations headache for them as well. 

Professional athletes and executives often have code-of-conduct clauses in their conduct that allow them to be terminated for bringing bad publicity to the employer.  That might not be the case for the rank-and-file employee (although I believe the woman fired from CBS was indeed an executive level employee) but the bad publicity brought upon the employer might still make a case for "due cause" if these cases go to court.

 -k

Right.  So what are the limits ?

Offline cybercoma

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Re: Getting Fired for Tweeting
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2017, 02:33:58 pm »
But it's ok to fire somebody for being in antifa or alt-right ?  I pause.
Do you? At what point do we distinguish between "political opinions" in regards to administrative issues and "political opinions" in regards to eradicating races or ethnicities? I'm not sure why it would give you pause that a workplace would not want to have someone amongst their workforce who is a literal threat to their racial minority employees.

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Getting Fired for Tweeting
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2017, 05:46:21 pm »
Do you? At what point do we distinguish between "political opinions" in regards to administrative issues and "political opinions" in regards to eradicating races or ethnicities? I'm not sure why it would give you pause that a workplace would not want to have someone amongst their workforce who is a literal threat to their racial minority employees.

I knew somebody who was raised as an open Communist during the cold war.  They didn't support the Soviet system, as they saw it as an aberration of a system that would benefit mankind as a whole.  There was plenty of support for ostracizing and punishing people with that point of view.

There are workplaces where people with abhorrent opinions can work.  And I don't know what I would do if I had to manage the situation you describe.

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Getting Fired for Tweeting
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2017, 07:42:33 pm »
Just saw this posted on the 680 News page for facebook:
Quote
Luke P*******i i hope woman who made abortion will die in the same pain like her child

Should Luke be fired ?