Trashing your boss on Facebook not allowed

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration has upheld the dismissal of two senior employees who exchanged rude and snide remarks about their much younger boss and his family members who had been brought in to help manage the business.

According to Jan Truter of Legal Wise, the case Sedick & another vs Kisray (Pty) Ltd shows that the actions of employees who make derogatory or defamatory remarks about their colleagues in the public domain such as the internet or Facebook did provide grounds for dismissal.

The remarks from the two employees included: "Trust me no-one can put up with so much s**t when the f'ing kids join the company!"; "From so-called professionalism 2 dumb brats runnin a mickey mouse business"; ". . .today was hectic with Frankenstein"; "What an idiot"; "a very ugly man with a dark soul".

Truter points out the commissioner found that the internet is a public domain and this applies to Facebook because the employees had not restricted access to the relevant pages that contained the remarks.

By not making use of the privacy options they had abandoned their right to protection under the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related information, otherwise known as the Interception Act.

The two senior employees were publicly making derogatory and demeaning remarks about the director and management. The commissioner said that if employees wished their opinions to remain private they should refrain from posting them on the internet.