The toxic tweet strikes again.
The latest victim: A social media specialist for a tax-supported economic development agency, who used the organization’s Twitter account to send the following message:
We start summer hours today. That means most of the staff leave at noon, many to hit the links. Do you observe summer hours? What do you do?
The tweet wasn’t warmly received, according to accounts in the Allentown (PA) Morning Call.
A number of observers questioned the practice of granting extra time off to the employees of an organization financed through tax dollars.
Vanessa Williams, who worked for the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., was fired. Her boss, Phil Mitman, called the tweet “out of line” and quickly explained that the agency does let workers leave early on summer Fridays, but only if they’ve worked their full 40 hours.
And the fun didn’t stop with Williams’ firing. She hired an attorney, according to the Morning Call, and asked the agency to “issue a public statement absolving Williams of any wrongdoing and to take additional actions that would reverse the harm that has been done.”
The attorney, George Kounoupis, said the agency doesn’t have a social media policy, and that Williams didn’t tweet anything inappropriate.
The time is now
We’re hearing more and more stories about how employees’ use of social media — sometimes with the best of intentions — can cause some serious angst for employers.
It’s pretty clear: Companies need a formal social media policy — and right now. As this case shows, the lack of such a policy can end up not just making an employer look foolish, it could possibly lead to an employee lawsuit.
