What to do if I was fired from my job for writing on Facebook?

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What to do if I was fired from my job for writing on Facebook?

Now another employee just did the same and she still has her job. I feel, and umemployment said, that I was wrongly terminated. Do I have a case to sue?

Asked on January 14, 2013 under Employment Labor Law, Massachusetts

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 11 years ago | Contributor

You may not have a case to sue. While the law is still developing in this area, private employers can generally terminate someone for writing something inappropriate on  Facebook if the employer became aware of such comment without having to do anything illegal (that is, the employer did not, for example, access your Facebook account without permission) and if the comment was not protected by labor laws (so it was not a call to unionize or organize, a criticism of management policy, etc.). So if you posted something offensive about a client, about co-workers or a manager (not about management policy; personally offensive about a particular manager), or made a racially, ethnically, etc. insensitive remark, or a politically-charged statement that the employer does not want to be associated with, etc., then you could be fired. Basically, if you could be fired for having said it at a company party, at a client's, or work, then you could be fired for saying it on Facebook, as long as the company legallly became aware of it.


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