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Dear PicassoHR, I have an employee who is currently signed off sick with stress, but his colleagues keep telling me he is partying every night and boasting about it on Facebook. He's also been saying negative things about the Company on his Facebook profile. I've never been on a social networking site so I don't know how to access what he's saying, and anyway, can I do anything if he's doing these things in his own time. Please help; I don't know what to do. Yours Tech N O'Phobe Dear Tech,
You have several issues here, so let's deal with them one at a time:
1. Sickness absence management
If the employee is signed off by his GP, but appears to be well enough to go out at night, it's time to get a report on his condition from his GP. It may be that the GP has advised him to try and get out more and relax as part of his recovery, but you won't know this unless you can get information from the GP direct. You need the employee's permission for this; if he won't give it, explain your concerns about the conflicting messages you're getting from his behaviour and say that you will have to make any decisions without the benefit of the medical advice.
2. Misconduct
There have been a number of cases where employees were dismissed for placing negative comments about their employers online. Breach of trust and confidence can be cause for dismissal whether the activity takes place inside or outside of working hours. However, a word of caution: as with any potential disciplinary case, you must undertake a full investigation into the facts before deciding on whether disciplinary action is appropriate. For example, are the negative comments available to the general public or just to certain 'invited' friends? Are the comments really that negative, or just evidence of a stressed employee letting off steam?
Going forward, social networking sites, blogs etc are here to stay, so why not learn to embrace them and use them positively? Make clear to your employees in your policies what standards are / are not acceptable. Call us today for your policy.
The PicassoHR team
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