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An Alberta labour arbitrator has dismissed a grievance brought by the Canadian Union of Postal workers on behalf of a postal clerk who was fired for inappropriate Facebook postings directed at the company and her supervisors.

The woman, with 31 years of service, worked at a postal depot in Edmonton where there was considerable labour unrest. The friction related to management’s efforts to minimize socializing on the job and increase productivity. One result was verbal clashes between older workers and a 24-year old supervisor. The woman participated in these events and was given a three day disciplinary suspension without pay from October 20 – 22, 2009 - before her Facebook postings were discovered in mid-November. Subsequently she was fired.

The 30 postings contained derogatory, mocking statements about her supervisors and Canada Post. In several comments the woman suggested she had a voodoo doll of one supervisor and if she hadn’t been drinking, “she would take her out on the driveway and run her over.” These threatening posts were sent to more than 50 of the clerk’s Facebook friends including several co-workers.

The two supervisors disparaged were distraught when they heard about and read the postings and took time off work for emotional distress.

Canada Post argued that the postings were grossly insubordinate, could damage the organization and greatly harmed the supervisors. Canada Post also pointed out that the woman was unapologetic, and justified her actions by blaming her supervisors for creating an intolerable work environment. Under the circumstances and despite her long service, the employer maintained that termination was warranted.

The union grieved her firing, but accepted the postings were regrettable and ought not to have been made. They argued however, that a toxic work environment explained why the woman had chosen to vent her frustration in this manner and noted she believed her Facebook postings were private. Considering the woman's long service and how close she was to retirement, the union suggested that discharge was too harsh.

In a decision released in March, the arbitrator acknowledged the woman's age and length of service might in some circumstances be grounds for reinstatement. However, he found that her attitude made her a poor candidate for reestablishing the employment relationship and that she simply refused to accept accountability for her actions. As a result, he concluded that Canada Post had just cause to terminate her.

The moral of this story?

If you have beefs about your employer or co-workers, don’t post them on Facebook or any other social media site. You do not know who your “friends” really are. And even if think you are restricting access to a select few people, you are leaving a digital trail that can come back and bite you.

you are leaving a digital trail that can come back and bite you.

Proper way to deal with these issues is to confront your boss and, if nothing is done, escalate it within the organization and be prepared to live with the consequences.

Poor woman. I love her stance! If I had a company I would hire her immediately.

Bravo madam! Bravo!

Maybe next time when someone deals with a racial white male you can take it to their boss who will be white to complain about a white man being racist to you. That'll solve the problem quick.

The woman, with 31 years of service, worked at a postal depot in Edmonton where there was considerable labour unrest. The friction related to management’s efforts to minimize socializing on the job and increase productivity. One result was verbal clashes between older workers and a 24-year old supervisor. The woman participated in these events and was given a three day disciplinary suspension without pay from October 20 – 22, 2009 - before her Facebook postings were discovered in mid-November. Subsequently she was fired.

You could of course have suggested that it was an example of gender prejudice, but it doesn't seem very likely.

That decision is based on your attitude & potential for stirring up trouble and absolutely nothing else!

FB also functions as an open source for humint.

-FK

I don't know why I do it, just curiosity I suppose, but when I see odd words supposedly in English I have to go and check them; may be useful in Scrabble sometime.

But I doubt HUMINT is there, hell even 'Human Intelligence' doesn't really explain what it is. Human intelligence is what we are all supposed to have, but if everybody used the intelligence they had they would use words that we cold all understand, instead of dumb jargon. It could only have originated in the US where they just have to have pronounceable abbreviations instead of acronyms.

Poor woman. I love her stance! If I had a company I would hire her immediately. Bravo madam! Bravo!



Great advice. Maybe next time when someone deals with a racial white male you can take it to their boss who will be white to complain about a white man being racist to you. That'll solve the problem quick.