Intersting case of employee's expectation of privacy

[CairnsDuc]

There is a reason if you google me, you get absolutely nothing. 

+1 on that!

[NAKID]

This is not true.  The restaurant management was invited to view the board by one of its participants (Ms. St. John). 

The two individuals who were fired are naive and stupid. 

But she had no authority to invite someone without the owner's permission. That would be like you and me are neighbors. You have been invited over to my house. Then at another time, you tell someone it's OK to go over to my house without asking my permission...

[Sinister]

But she had no authority to invite someone without the owner's permission. That would be like you and me are neighbors. You have been invited over to my house. Then at another time, you tell someone it's OK to go over to my house without asking my permission...

Well, no, it's nothing like that.  What rules were in place which she violated?  What did she do that, in DrunkenMonkey's words, was "illegal."  If it was illegal, there must be a law in place to break.  What was it?

[redxblack]

you could argue that the management later hacked the account by intimidating staff to surrender their account/login info.

[Sinister]

you could argue that the management later hacked the account by intimidating staff to surrender their account/login info.

Or, you could stick to the known facts.

[redxblack]

I guess we didn't read the same article that said as much.

[Sinister]

I guess we didn't read the same article that said as much.

We read the same article, then you read into it what you wanted.  Sure, Ms. St. John later said she was "worried about being fired" when she gave up her login, but her integrity is somewhat clouded by the fact that she was the one who ratted out the two who were fired.

I still say nothing illegal was done, and no one has brought forth any laws to bolster a claim otherwise.

[redxblack]

and as you handed over your login and password, you'd say you were worried about being fired? of course she said it later. She was worried about being fired.

[il d00d]

We read the same article, then you read into it what you wanted.  Sure, Ms. St. John later said she was "worried about being fired" when she gave up her login, but her integrity is somewhat clouded by the fact that she was the one who ratted out the two who were fired.

I still say nothing illegal was done, and no one has brought forth any laws to bolster a claim otherwise.

Identity theft?  I am not sure what the scope of those laws are, but one thing is clear: if the restaurant management could have logged on with their own credentials, they would have.

I still think that their termination was legally sketchy at best.  There is nothing there that would warrant anyone getting fired, disciplinary action being taken, etc.

[Bick]

There is a reason if you google me, you get absolutely nothing. 

How do you do that?  I want to be invisible!

[Triple J]

If I was on the jury I'd rule against the company given the facts in the article.

They logged into a private site using the username/password of a different person, knowing full well they wouldn't be able to get their own legitimate password. Further, the username/password was passed throughout management, presumably without the consent of the user. According to the article she only gave the one manager permission to use her information, not all of upper management...and that was sketchy since that person was a superior. It is entirely plausible that she feared she would lose her job if she didn't allow her information to be used...whether it was specifically stated or not.

It is irrelevant if the 2 people fired were being stupid by creating the private site (which they were). On that note, restaurant management might as well fire the entire staff if they don't want anyone working for them who also bad mouth them behind their back...that's pretty common.

[il d00d]

I just ran across this article - reminded me of this thread

Montana city backs off of requiring Facebook passwords as job requirement

Good on em for backing off this policy, but it was a pretty Orwellian measure for them to implement to begin with...

[redxblack]

That one was a crazy situation. Not only did you have to hand over your login credentials for ALL social networking sites, but also list and credential all internet sites you visit.

I thought about applying with lots of "interesting" sites just to give their HR people something to do.

[Bick]

I thought about applying with lots of "interesting" sites just to give their HR people something to do.

It is funny how many HR people focus so much on personal aspects, yet there are so many people that are hired to high level positions that have lied about their credentials.