Employee in press making disparaging comments

[Orgdevel]

Hi

We have recently found out one of our employees was making disparaging comments about the business in a local newspaper.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?

The comments were certainly misconduct and reflect poorly on the brand but looking for any advice around level of severity of outcome.

Regards,

[SuzanneC]

Not dissimilar to President Obama sacking his military chief for making disparaging remarks

BBC News - US Afghan commander Stanley McChrystal fired by Obama

[The Y-man]

I imagine there would be several references to such activity in the contractual agreement between employee and employer.

It could result in dismissal of the employee and further action by the employer should they wish to pursue this.

The Y-man

[Orgdevel]

Thanks for the info

[HeidiC]

How would this apply to an ex-employee??

I have an ex-employee who has sour grapes discussing our organisation in a negative light in social media pages.

Can a clause in an Agreement state that any negative public statements can be actioned against even after termination of employment?

Thanks

[Job Media]

Originally Posted by HeidiC

Can a clause in an Agreement state that any negative public statements can be actioned against even after termination of employment?

An employment agreement could contain something like that, but it's not a "clause" per se, it's really a warning, and it's not going to look good to incoming employees!

But what does "actioned" mean? Once the horse has bolted so to speak, I would have thought that the only course open to you would be launch a civil libel suit, which would be extremely expensive and may not actually succeed.

It is common for confidentiality clauses to extend after the term of employment, so if they were breaching confidentiality that could be an avenue to pursue. However I don't know how effective such clauses are when tested in a court of law.

Negative comments in social media about ex employers are very common, there are even "We hate suchandsuchcompany" groups on Facebook. Therefore it must be quite hard/expensive to stop, otherwise it wouldn't be as common as it is.

Maybe a more effective strategy for the future would be to somehow educate employees with regard to the perils of social media, which would include how ranting about your ex employer on the web could cause problems down the track.

Although it is not strictly legal to do so, job applicants are often "checked out on the web" nowadays as part of the screening process. A prospective employer would probably have grave concerns if they found that someone they were considering hiring was rubbishing there previous employer on Facebook!

[HeidiC]

Originally Posted by Job Media

It is common for confidentiality clauses to extend after the term of employment, so if they were breaching confidentiality that could be an avenue to pursue. However I don't know how effective such clauses are when tested in a court of law.

Negative comments in social media about ex employers are very common, there are even "We hate suchandsuchcompany" groups on Facebook. Therefore it must be quite hard/expensive to stop, otherwise it wouldn't be as common as it is.

Maybe a more effective strategy for the future would be to somehow educate employees with regard to the perils of social media, which would include how ranting about your ex employer on the web could cause problems down the track.

Although it is not strictly legal to do so, job applicants are often "checked out on the web" nowadays as part of the screening process. A prospective employer would probably have grave concerns if they found that someone they were considering hiring was rubbishing there previous employer on Facebook!

Excellent response - I will consider the confidentiality clause content to see if we can word it around social media and include it in our employee training and IT use policy.

Thanks

[Job Media]

HeidiC,

I guess it depends on what the ex employee is saying. If they're saying "XYZ Company is a crap place to work" any amount of re-wording the confidentiality agreement isn't going to stop that. But if they are revealing information about your customers or trade practices then that would be confidential information, providing it isn't already in the public domain.

Confidential Information should be defined in your contract or employment agreement, but at the end of the day a court could decide that certain information is not confidential.

Ultimately a lawyer would be best placed to advise you on what can and cannot realistically be achieved in terms of preventing people publicly bagging your company after they leave your employment.

Parting company with them on good terms is probably the best remedy

Anyway, please let us know how you get on.