Slam Your Boss on FaceBook?

Did you read about Dawnmarie Souza, an EMT who worked for American Medical Response of Connecticut? She got fired in part because of dissing her boss on Facebook?

Is this right? Some have questioned the decision by pointing out that she used her own computer and her own account to publicly belittle her boss. Even coworkers agreed with her assessment and joined in on the thread.

Does that make it right?

I think any true professional would agree that making disparaging remarks about your boss is not only unprofessional, but just plain wrong.

People have been fired for doing just what Souza did, not only on FaceBook, but other social media sites as well.

Souza has decided to fight the battle and The National Labor Relations Board has stated that conversations about working conditions with fellow employees constitute protected speech under the National Labor Relations Act no matter where they occur. That could be the water cooler, email and yes, even FaceBook.

The NLRB has filed a complaint on Souza’s behalf attempting to get her reinstated.

Her company, AMR says Souza’s actions violate the company’s written policies and therefore they can fire her.

This case will be heard in January and the outcome will be interesting, but not a game changer for me. No matter what this Federal agency or your company says about what you can or can’t do, I would maintain good, ethical judgment when posting about your employer and people you work for. Actually I wouldn’t post about them at all.

FaceBook and LinkedIn are two of the ways I network with both friends and business contacts. I keep my company out of any posts good or bad.

The world of social media is stretching boundaries in the workplace in more ways than ever before. Tread carefully and responsibly through the  sea of posts and pages.