Facebook helped someone get paid... after they got fired for using it!

maybe that's not the best thread title... mods please adjust if necessary...

i work in a law firm, and for most of 2009 the owner was dead set against anyone using facebook... of course in early 2010 he had me and another paralegal design a facebook page for him, as well as for our firm... irony is great isn't it? anyways, he was always about looking up potential new employees through facebook, and he knew i had a facebook profile, so he would always have me do a search... i think the best one was a young lady, very nice, but her facebook profile had a pic of her on a snow board, going down someone's staircase, with a beer in her hand! priceless... but of course, that had a hand in her not retaining a position with our firm...

anyways, i often get adverts for webinar's and such, and i found this one interesting...
www.avantresources.com...

and more interesting a little deeper in that site
www.avantresources.com...

Employers Lose. The National Labor Review Board's first-ever ruling in a social media case is in - and the employer must pay back wages and interest.
An NLRB judge has now ruled that Hispanics United of Buffalo, a non-profit social services agency, violated the National Labor Relations Act when it fired five employees for "bullying and harrassment" after gripes and complaints they posted on Facebook about their jobs, co-workers and clients. The NLRB is emerging as the proving ground for social media cases. Now in question: seemingly logical employer responses to employees' illogical use of social media. An estimated 150 social media related cases have now been filled with the board, a number sure to grow as plaintiff's attorneys exploit this opportunity to challenge employer decisions.

anyways, i just thought it ironic, that fakebook managed to get someone their lost pay plus interest, for being fired... for using facebook at work!

if anyone knows a better link to more detail regarding this story or any other related, feel free to link...

and know, i am a lover and hater of facebook... i have a profile, but it is STRICTLY for use with my family and to show off my 8 month old daughter to them (my family)... i would rather them all get used to picasa since i have a web album and i really like picasa, but it seems too much trouble for some of them... anyways, please feel free to go on to the next thread if you find this one boring... on looking back, i kind of do myself

and a slightly related link with nytimes...
www.nytimes.com...

In what labor officials and lawyers view as a ground-breaking case involving workers and social media, the National Labor Relations Board has accused a company of illegally firing an employee after she criticized her supervisor on her Facebook page.

So let me get this straight. You broke Facebook terms and agreement that you agreed to when signing up, and used it for work purposes on behalf of your employer because they did not want to make their own profile and break the agreement themselves.

And you are still working for this person. Just how bad do you need money in this world, to work for such a person to do this, break someones privacy and intended audience.

He does not deserve any employees, well he does deserve you, cause you do not seem to have any morals or sense of what is right, in return for making money.

I do not think that any ruling in a court of law will change the fact that some employers will still screen potential employees based on their social media profiles. Of course they can't be fired for something they say on a social media site, but who is to say that is what the reason for termination is?

I am sure an employer could find a reason to fire someone if they really wanted to. And as far as screening potential employees, the employer of course will not let anyone know that they are screening social media sites for potential employees.

I hate social media sites. I think the major flaw in most people's logic is that they actually think people WANT to read the junk they post about their lives. Most people couldn't care less. It just creates more drama that spreads even faster. Some people do not use social media just to post boring stuff about their personal lives, but many do.

Many people also give out too much information on these sites, not thinking of the potential implications. There are other problems with social media as well, but I suppose this really isn't the thread for that.

reply to post by oceleste


where exactly does it say in fbook T&C i cannot search for someone's profile? and where does it say exactly that i cannot create a fbook profile for my employer? not that i care about their terms, yes i broke them right off the bat the 2nd time when i entered a false name and account information.... and???
again, i am only pointing out the irony of my employer, who i will say used to be in the office almost every day the first 2 years i was with this company... but the past 2 years he has barely come in maybe 2-3 times a month... which i only say to point out what a much better person he has become since he relaxed a bit...
and ummm... okay, angry much? i work for a bankruptcy firm, and sorry, but i assist people every day... and i really don't care one bit about facebook T&C, they are the worst, and nowhere does it say he can't have a facebook profile... what are you on about angry new blood?

www.myfoxny.com...
why don't you back up a social media site that records your every move and allows people to hunt and bully others to the point of killing themselves?

i have morals, and i don't get why doing my boss's dirty work makes me any different than anyone else... you must work for mother theresa or da jesus guy... because otherwise, unless you are TPTB, you do your bosses dirty work, it's just different than my bosses dirty work... and my boss is on here too, so he knows everything i do, and i'm totally cool with that because he's one of the coolest mofo's anyone would ever meet... and i'm sorry you are so angry that i made a comment about facebook getting someone fired and then that person suing their employer and getting reimbursed...

sorry, i really don't understand where your anger originates or what it has to do with this thread?

reply to post by JiggyPotamus


you are perfectly right, and i completely agree... i have posted once in the past year... and that post was a movie quote, something to the effect of 'it's not about understanding, it's about not giving up'... but that's not why i use fakebook, as i stated above, i have relatives spread around the world, and this is the easiest way for them to see my family, although a lot of them are getting used to picasa, so i may soon deactivate my account... lol, saying deactivate in my head, sounded like a robot that is about to be terminated... more human than human right?

anyways, i do agree, i had a different facebook profile for years, after it first came into existence, and i found a lot of old high school people, but after a while found that i had apparently rotated in a circle of friends that didn't really get along with another circle of friends, and after they found each other via my profile, well let's just say, you are right, drama majorly unfolded... so i closed that account and opened another with a different email account, and this one has none of my real information in my account, i use it 99% for simply posting pictures, and i have a good bit of I/T knowledge, so my account is heavily secured, well from the public of course, not from fakebook mods and what nots....