facebook summary dismissal

[bulletmagnet]

Hi, i have recently lost my job (summary dismissal) for an alleged posting on facebook which was interpreted as gross misconduct.

I did not make the posting on facebook and was suspended for 2 months and now i have lost my hearing and am out of my job.

At my hearing i produced print offs of my facebook account with no evidence of the alleged posting, the posting in question was on someone elses wall and i was supposed to have made a comment on it.

the company has an electronic communications policy which states stuff like this shouldnt happen but i myself dont work in an office and through no fault of my own have never been shown the policy along with around another 100 co workers.

There excuse was "its on notice boards" but during a recess in my hearing myself and my union rep looked on around 17 boards within the building and there wasnt a single policy on there,there excuse was that it may have been moved!

Nothing i said in the hearing was considered or taken seriously and i would go as far to say if i had testemony from the queen i would have still been dismissed.

Since this all started and i was on suspension they have been getting groups of people into meetings and made them sign for this illusive policy which i wasnt ever shown in my near 16 years unblemished employment.

I now find myself without a job with the prospect of an appeal which they wont do in a hurry with bills to pay etc.

How long would sound resonable for an appeal hearing to take place?

The investigation took 8 weeks and they had same evidence as they had on the first day so im not going to hold my breath.

 

thanks and any advice would be greatly received

[R&J]

Any advice?

 

Yes...you say that the investigaiton took 2 months. You now have only a few weeks to present your claim for Unfair Dismissal at the Employment Tribunal.

 

The time limit for doing this is 3 months - 1 day from the date you were dismissed, not the date of Appeal.

 

Act quickly if you intend to go to the Tribunal, or your claim will be time-barred.

[bulletmagnet]

hi, i was sacked on the 14th of this month after a 2 month suspension period.

i have until the 13th oct to file for a unfair dismissal tribunral but want to go to appeal first.

[Sidewinder]

....and you must go through the appeal process first in order to demonstrate to a Tribunal that you have followed due process.

 

What was the nature of the alleged comment? Was it obviously defamatory and were you supposed to have made it in work time or from outside of the business?

 

Your claim is more one of wrongful dismissal than unfair dismissal, in that the misdemeanour you are accused of never occurred, and you have produced evidence to suggest that this was not actioned under your hand. What did they produce to support their claim? Did the post in question actually say 'xxxx says', and if so, how do you believe that this happened?

 

If they have a piece of paper which has your name against it, then they may be able to dismiss on the balance of probabilities (ir they do not need 'beyond reasonable doubt') in order to make this stick. Also, they just need to demonstrate that a policy was available to all staff in some accessible format, such as a company handbook, referred to in your main contract, in order to be acceptable as an agreed term of your employment. It would be hard to prove that this document did not exist and you were unaware of any such clause.

[bulletmagnet]

there was a comment on some ones wall which was made to look like it came from my account with my picture and my name next to it

it said the words

 

mr xxxxx XXX ??

 

think you can imagine what the x's are and the question marks were also there

Edited July 17, 2010 by bulletmagnet

[bulletmagnet]

there was also a precident set in the past where someone admitted posting something on facebook, they were off on suspension for 3 months and ended up with a written warning, dosent make sense why there is different outcomes to me.

[bulletmagnet]

any more advice?

[Sidewinder]

there was also a precident set in the past where someone admitted posting something on facebook, they were off on suspension for 3 months and ended up with a written warning, dosent make sense why there is different outcomes to me.

 

Sorry - had missed this.

 

Any action taken against you must be proportionate and consistent with sanctions given to others for the same misdemeanour.

 

You need to get the appeal in quickly on the grounds that a) You were not guilty of posting this comment and you do not given sufficient regard to your categoric assertion that this was the case, nor consideration for other ways in which the information may have been attributed to you (password hacking, malicious activity), and b) That the sanction of dismissal taken against you is disproportionate in the circumstances considering that it is possible (and you claim certain) that the Facebook message was not posted by you. The sanction of dismissal is also inconsistent with the action taken against [NAME] who was found guilty of a similar misdemeanour but received a lesser punishment than you.

 

Remember that the employer only needs to believe on the balance of probability that you were guilty of this action, so you need to provide as much supporting evidence or information as possible to stand any chance of success.

[morteee]

and this is exactly why I have NO ONE I work with on my facebook!

[Sidewinder]

and this is exactly why I have NO ONE I work with on my facebook!

 

I particularly like THIS example :grin: