Over the last few months I’ve heard of several stories of how people were fired or forced to resign because of their comments on Facebook about their company, bosses, or co-workers. What happens is something stressful or unfair happens at work and they destress by ranting on Facebook, sometimes insulting the person who ruined their day. In a landmark case in the United States, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against a company for illegally firing one of their employees after she ranted about her boss on Facebook. Now the question we have to ask is will this hold true here in the Philippines? Will the Department of Labor and Employment support something like this? What does our Labor Code say?
According to the Philippine Labor Code Book 6, Article 282:
ART. 282. Termination by employer. – An employer may terminate an employment for any of the following causes:
(a) Serious misconduct or willful disobedience by the employee of the lawful orders of his employer or representative in connection with his work;
(b) Gross and habitual neglect by the employee of his duties;
(c) Fraud or willful breach by the employee of the trust reposed in him by his employer or duly authorized representative;
(d) Commission of a crime or offense by the employee against the person of his employer or any immediate member of his family or his duly authorized representatives; and
(e) Other causes analogous to the foregoing.
Obviously the Labor Code doesn’t mention the internet, social media, or Facebook. It does say that “serious misconduct” can merit termination. However this is really vague. We should definitely look into creating and updating legislation which incorporates the popular rise of technology in our society and culture (especially here in the Philippines).
By the way, while I was researching on the Labor Code, it turns out that if you reverse the role, wherein the employer or the company was the one posting negative things about their employee, the employee can quit and even file damages! Check about the Labor Code Book 6, Article 285:
ART. 285. Termination by employee. – (a) An employee may terminate without just cause the employee-employer relationship by serving a written notice on the employer at least one (1) month in advance. The employer upon whom no such notice was served may hold the employee liable for damages.
(b) An employee may put an end to the relationship without serving any notice on the employer for any of the following just causes:
1. Serious insult by the employer or his representative on the honor and person of the employee;
2. Inhuman and unbearable treatment accorded the employee by the employer or his representative;
3. Commission of a crime or offense by the employer or his representative against the person of the employee or any of the immediate members of his family; and
4. Other causes analogous to any of the foregoing.
UPDATE: Fellow blogger and social media evangelist Sonnie Santos posted on Facebook the elements of serious misconduct. Sonnie has a solid background in Human Resources so he knows what he’s talking about.
Elements of Serious Misconduct
To be a valid ground for termination of employment, the following elements must be present:
1. The misconduct must be serious;
2. It must relate to the performance of the employee’s duties; and,
3. Must show that the employee has become unfit to continue working for the employer.
My personal stand is that social networking sites are public places. Our freedom ends when it impedes on the freedom of others. We should be held accountable to what we say regardless if it is online or offline.
References: Chan Robles Website (Labor Code)
I think there’s a place and time for everything. My thing is, if you can’t say it in person, then don’t post/tweet it.
I’ve heard of some companies (and I even read one employment contract) which has policies that explicitly forbid their employees from blogging, twitting, or writing anything negative about their place of employment or the management. Said policy also prohibits blogs and twittering that betray or reveal confidential company information.
I think it’s automatic that a person should get fired if he/she shares company secrets online or offline.
I think, if one cannot help but rant, the person should learn how to be savvy with the tool first. There are privacy settings in FB. She should’ve used that. If they fired her for something that was set for certain contacts only, that means they were breaching her privacy.
Thanks for the comment skysenshi! You make a lot of sense with this one. Problem is not everyone takes time to study the privacy features offered by social networking sites like Facebook.
lesson: if you have nothing good to say, better keep quite. The boss is like customer or taxpayer that can fire anybody salesman/employee. vice versa
Thats why we have facebook groups. haha
Here in the USA, there is a law called “employment at will act”… meaning, any hiring is presumed to be “at will”… that is, the employer is free to discharge individuals for good cause, or bad cause, or no cause at all, and the employee is equally free to quit, strike, or otherwise cease work.
So firing an employee based on his/her rant on Facebook can be use as grounds for termination.
However, there are seven states that are excempted to this law, NY state is one of them.
Thanks for the additional info Muffy. I don’t think we have that here. Will need to research, hehe.
For me, that’s just work ethics. As a social media user and employee, you should know what to post in public, especially when it has something to do with the company or your boss.