Catherine Deveny, erstwhile columnist for The Age in Melbourne, was sacked after her Tweets from The Logies were deemed “vulgar and inappropriate” by some media personalities (watch the video here from 3AW ) and even offensive by some. I’m not saying that I laughed at the comment about Rove McMannus – that one I thought a little crass.
But the one about Bindi Irwin ? I nearly pee’d myself laughing. It’s called a SENSE OF HUMOR people ! It was funny BECAUSE it was inappropriate, and ridiculous.
She wasn’t advocating child sex or paedophilia or anything, she was having a go at The Logies – one of THE most pointless exercises in television.
What happens at the after-party ? People get drunk, people get high, people get laid (get any Logie attendee to deny it, please !)
Apart from Catherine’s questionable sense of humor (which, strangely enough, parallels my own), it raises the interesting point of when is what you say on Twitter (or any social media or blog site) subject to employer scruitiny and when isn’t it ?
Leaving aside, for the moment, the actual content of the tweet (or Facebook posting, or blog posting or WHATEVER), consider these three scenarios;
1. You post on your own time, on your own computer or other device
2. You post on your own time, but use a company-supplied device (and this includes while at lunch, which is YOUR time, not the company’s)
3. You post on company time using a company supplied device.
Let’s examine each of these in turn;
1. Your time, your device. This is a no brainer. It’s NOTHING to do with the company / department / etc. Absolutely ZERO. Anything else is an unwarranted invasion of privacy. Any company that sacked you for this reason would leave themselves open to a really nasty Wrongful Dismissal lawsuit. Unless, of course, you say something libellous or defamatory, no matter how true it may be. If you do, then you deserve to be canned.
2. Your time, their device. A little grey. Does accessing that particular site / service contravene some anal Code of Conduct or Acceptable Internet Usage Policy that the company insists you adhere to ? Even when you are at lunch ? Even when you are using a company-supplied smartphone or laptop at home on your own internet connection ? I highly doubt the company could do anything about your actual posting other than censure you for breach of the aforementioned policies, and if you’re not accessing the ‘net through their network or VPN, then I can’t see it’s any of their business.
3. Their time, their gear. Another no-brainer. They pay you to work at whatever it is you do, not to post irrelevant stuff to the ‘net. They probably COULD use this as a basis for disciplinary action or dismissal, although under Australian law it would probably have to be as a breach of their policies, rather than the actual content of the post itself.
Of course, I’m open to discussion on these points and happy to be proven wrong..:-)
But what happens if you are, for example, in the Armed Forces ?
The Armed Forces in Australia (and probably elsewhere) have specific rules and regulations regarding the use of social media and, as you are “employed” 24/7 by them then it could be questionable whether or not you actually HAVE any time of your own. But you knew that going in, didn’t you ?
Comments please..
