Fair Work Australia dismissed a company's appeal over a worker's Facebook comments

Fair Work Australia (FWA) dismissed an appeal by a transport company, which tried to sack an employee for making derogatory comments about 2 of his managers on Facebook.

FWA found:
• Comments about the death of a Muslim terrorist were "distasteful", but within his right to free speech and could not be considered a personal attack on one of his managers, who is a practising Muslim.
• A comment referring to a manager as a "bacon hater" was in "poor taste".
• Sexual comments about a female manager were "outrageous", but most were made by his Facebook friends in response to his comment.
• The company did not have a social media policy and its induction training materials were inadequate grounds to sack the employee.
• The employee’s limited understanding of Facebook was relevant, but such claims of ignorance are likely to be viewed less favourably in the future as more people join social media websites.

The company launched an appeal but FWA upheld the original ruling.

The industrial umpire warned "Facebook conversations leave a permanent written record of statements and comments made by participants, which can be read at any time into the future until they are taken down by the page owner," the appeal panel said.

"Employees should therefore exercise considerable care in using social networking sites in making comments or conducting conversations about their managers and fellow employees."

Vocam Training Video
Social Media, Email and Online Etiquette
Workplace Bullying and Harassment
Maintaining a Harassment Free Office: Employees
Maintaining a Harassment Free Office: Managers

E-learning Courses
Social Media, Email and Online Etiquette – E-learning
Workplace Bullying and Harassment – E-learning
Maintaining a Harassment Free Office: Employees – E-learning
Maintaining a Harassment Free Office: Managers – E-learning
Available as part of TrainNOW. For more information, contact us or visit our website.

Source: http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/linfox-loses-appeal-over-truckies-061015018.html