Andy Warhol famously said "In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes." The rise of celebrity culture and reality television in the Western world since then has shown Warhol to be quite prophetic. YouTube and webcams make it possible for you to be the star of your own show. The problem is with all this goldfish living is that everyone sees and knows about what you think. Social trends impact on work and employers are often left wondering what's the best way to respond. The important thing is to ensure an objective and proportionate response, not easy to achieve if you have been wounded by what an employee has shared with the world (or his part of it). Let's take a lesson from a recent tribunal case. Mrs Whitham was employed by Club 24 Ltd, which counted the Volkswagen group as one of its main clients. Her colleagues included both employees of Club 24 Ltd and employees of Volkswagen.
Some of these colleagues were also friends with her on Facebook. Mrs Whitham had around 50 Facebook friends at the time of the incident, who could view all messages she posted. General members of the public or Facebook subscribers who had not been accepted as a friend by Mrs Whitham could not see her comments. Two of her colleagues, who were friends with her on Facebook, saw the comments, and reported the incident to her line manager. Mrs Witham was subsequently dismissed, following a disciplinary procedure, the main reason for her dismissal being that her comments could have damaged the relationship between the respondent and Volkswagen, and had put the respondent's reputation at risk. The Tribunal decided that the dismissal to be unfair, because of the relatively minor nature of the comments made. Further, it was critical of the procedure followed and in particular the respondent's failure to seek the views of Volkswagen on the conduct in question, given that damage to this relationship was the focus of the respondent's case.
The employer should have considered demotion as an alternative to dismissal. Would you consider trading without a phone? Probably not. So why do companies leave the acquisition of essential advice and training for managers until they're so far down the road that they're staring down the barrel of an employment tribunal gun and the outcome is predictable. Club 24 lost money on this - around 10k for preparing and presenting the case and whatever they had to pay in compensation. It's a source of mystery to me that they didn't get and stay up to date with the relevant employment law. It's a much a tool of the business. You can be right on top of things for 99 a year! Visitors of this website are free to copy and distribute this Article provided you agree with the terms and conditions of this website whereby the original author's information and copyright must be included. The author is Kate Russell of Russell HR Consulting Ltd. Russell HR Consulting provides expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law as well as providing employment law training and HR services.
NOV 2014 -- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2015 Volkswagen Jetta and Passat vehicles manufactured September 23, 2014, to October 9, 2014, and equipped with manual front seatback recliners. In the affected vehicles, the seatback recliner retaining bracket may not engage correctly, resulting in unexpected movement of the seatback. Unexpected movement of the driver's seatback may distract the driver, increasing the risk of a crash. Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the assembly of the seatback recliner retaining bracket, correcting it as necessary, free of charge. APRIL 2014 -- Volkswagen of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2014 Jetta, Beetle, Beetle Convertible, and Passat vehicles equipped with a 1.8T engine and torque converter automatic transmission. In the affected vehicles, the O-ring seals between the oil cooler and the transmission may leak fluid. The leaking transmission fluid could contact a hot surface and result in a vehicle fire.
