Let’s say your boss has been sexually harassing you, so you hire a lawyer and sue. It might be a good idea to clean up any positive references to your boss on your Facebook account, because then it might look like his sexual conduct wasn’t unwanted, right?
Wrong. And Heather Painter found that out the hard way, to the tune of a sanction in her lawsuit. Painter worked for a dentist who climbed on top of her and held her down. Slam dunk lawsuit, right? Well, the dentist, Aaron Atwood, says he was just tickling her and that the sexual nature of their relationship was “consensual.” (When you add in the fact that Painter also babysat for Atwood, the whole thing goes into the seriously icky category.)
To keep reading, click here: Think before you delete that Facebook post
Good advice, Suzanne. I don’t talk about my job on Facebook, but it obviously applies to any lawsuit. Here’s hoping we all never have to use it.
Yes! I used to say to my boss that my goal was to never have to testify for a lawsuit. She used to laugh and say, “good luck with that.” But, since i left corporate life 5 years ago, I’m pretty sure I won’t be testifying any time soon!
Hi Suzanne,
I think one should not mix social media with professional life. You really don’t have to broadcast the goodness of your boss or peers to the world. Avoid keeping job related discussions away from FB or twitter. I wrote a post on the same subject sometime back…Here is the link to it http://www.younghrmanager.com/sexual-harassment-at-workplace
Might be of help to other readers as well.
Amit Bhagria
I think that’s generally wise, but I also think it’s overkill. Work is a huge part of our lives, and it would be strange to pretend it didn’t exist on FB.
Just to be on the safe side, I ways advise to steer clear of work related post on social media unless you are doing so on behalf of your organization but if you must, your advice is very practical and is a lesson learned. As I was reading post, all I could think about was Eron.
OMG! She also should have called the police? Sounds like assault to me. So there is something more to this story….
I agree. If you’ve been sexually assaulted, even at work, call the police.
Do we have the whole story here? At first read, that ruling seems like blaming the victim, equivalent to judging sex as not-rape based on the victim’s clothing.
That’s the problem with the deleted FB posts. Of course in this situation, he said it was consensual. She said it wasn’t. But then she went on a deleting spree. If she’d left the posts up, the jury would be able to evaluate it and figure out whether or not she was a victim. (Although, technically, they’re determining whether or not he was a perpetrator!)
The judge basically said there’s no option but to assume that the posts undermined her case. Otherwise, she would have left them up.
A lot of people do not realize they are being abused at work, as it starts off slowly and then builds.
http://www.killingmycareer.com/about/