Why you don’t need to stress about your Employer’s Social Media Policy

I have been hearing some concern lately about Employers’ social media policies and what they might mean. There is a valid debate to be had on free speech and what these employment requirements might mean. Are they leading us into an Orwellian dystopia of Newspeak? I’m here to say that they really don’t change anything.

The first thing we need to do it clarify what Employers can and can’t do regarding terminating an Employee. Thanks to the EEOC, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, there are strict laws as to what you constitutes discrimination. Thanks to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 an Employer cannot discriminate against someone in “all types of work situations, including hiring, firing, promotions, harassment, training, wages, and benefits”. Quoted directly from the EEOC website.

Now the part that seems scary, what Employers can do. They can fire you for literally no reason at all. Let’s say you show up to work in an appropriately professional outfit. But today you wore your new shoes. Your boss looks down at your feet and asks where you got your wonderful new shoes that feel like wearing sleeping in on a Saturday. You reply you got them at a local shoe store near your house. He flips, face turning bright red, fires you on the spot because last time he went there he farted in the store and was really embarrassed, but he doesn’t tell you that. Perfectly legal.

This is what you call At-Will Employment and it seems a little scary. It has been this way for a long time and you have probably exclusively had jobs that fell under this as it is presumed to be this way, except in Montana. The most common reason people are fired is because they did something they obviously shouldn’t have like break stuff or steal.

Here is why I say not to worry too much, it really hasn’t changed much. Employers would fire someone for badmouthing the company on the news twenty years ago. The real difference is that you have so much reach online and what you said sticks around for a long time. There is no assumption of privacy online and you should be acting in a professional manner there as well. See my earlier blog on professionalism. Assume that whatever you put online can be seen by whoever you wouldn’t want to see it or make really sure it is private.

If you have been discriminated against in your workplace contact your State’s Department of Labor, no one deserves it and they can’t be allowed to continue.

Thank you for reading.

Image credit to The Fire, don’t know anything about them just snagged the image.