Hi there, I'm a new member of the CPID community and was hoping to get a bit of feedback from some knowledgeable people on here as the person in question has asked me to help him and it's a bit out of my league!
I'll try and keep it short but let me know if you want more detail.
A colleague of mine, we'll call him "Mike" got into a mild mannered argument on Facebook with a stranger (I'm sure we'll all seen those!) where someone insulted Mike (We'll call him Dave) and in return Mike called that person a "nonce", though, in the obvious context of meaning "stupid/worthless" as opposed to the other commonly known meaning.
Mike reports Dave to Dave's employer and the police, for material unrelated to their argument but words used on social media that Mike thought amounted to "Discrimination" and "Threats of violence towards women".
In turn, Dave reports Mike to Mike's employer for "bullying and harassment", with the main complaint being the usage of the word "nonce".
Dave receives a disciplinary; outcome unknown.
Mike attends a disciplinary meeting for gross misconduct, with the strong potential for dismissal.
Mike believes he has done nothing wrong and hasn't broken any rules as his comments were his own, done in his own time and whilst Dave spuriously claimed to have been a customer once at the sites sister establishment, there is no evidence for this and the information of where Mike worked was publicly available, though not on the social media site he used to post the comments. It is all round regarded by everyone involved that there is "no real way of knowing if Dave had ever been a customer".
Mike laid out his case and received a First Written Warning (12 months). Whilst he was not dismissed, he is still unhappy with this outcome as he (and others at the company) are now not sure of what they can or cannot say in their own time when not representing the company. It was suggested in the disciplinary meeting that anything offensive could amount to misconduct. As most of us know, its not difficult to offend people and whilst my own record is squeaky clean, I wouldn't be able to count how many times I have probably offended someone in my lifetime, it seems part and parcel of, well, living.
Allegedly Mike has broken this section of the company handbook:
"Employees shall not engage, even in their own time, in any blogging or social networking
that may harm or tarnish the image, reputation and/or goodwill of the Company and/or any
of its employees, workers, suppliers, clients or customers or which is detrimental to the
Company’s interests.
Employees shall not engage, even in their own time, in any blogging or social networking
that involves bullying or harassment of, or making disparaging or derogatory comments
about any of the Company’s employees, workers, suppliers, clients or customers."
My question to the community is, do you think Mike should appeal the written warning and if so, on what grounds?
And my second question is, can this company policy be challenged. It seems very vague to me regarding "derogatory" comments, especially when it is not directly at a customer.
Sorry that was longer than I anticipated, but thanks in advance!
