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She is worried about retaliation.
By NyRee Ausler — Written on Mar 08, 2023
We’ve seen it time and time again. An employee takes to social media to complain about or disclose details about their job and is surprised when there are repercussions.
One woman took to Facebook to vent her frustration about a new boss she was having difficulty with. The fallout was unexpected and now she is worried that she is being targeted and may be fired.
She took to the r/AskHR subreddit to ask Human Resources professionals about what the possible ramifications of her actions could be.
The upset employee started by telling readers that she has been under a lot of stress since she began reporting to a new supervisor a few months ago. She explained that it all came to a head when the woman referred to her children as “distractions” in an email.
According to the woman, that prompted her to turn to her Facebook friends for support. Though she does not share the specifics of her post, she claims that she never identified the company nor the supervisor she was complaining about.
Nevertheless, an anonymous person saw the post and contacted the Ethics and Compliance Department at her job, kicking off an investigation into whether or not she is being treated unfairly or discriminated against by her employer.
Up until moving under new leadership, the case manager enjoyed her job and had an exemplary performance. Since then, she has been subjected to heightened scrutiny.
The telecom employee told readers that she’d performed at 97-99% in her role and had never been reprimanded or received any negative feedback about how she did her job.
According to her, that all changed when her new supervisor started. She said that all email correspondence had become critical in nature, bordering on a lecture, and impacting her morale.
She admitted that her home life has required her employer to be flexible.
The working mother explained that she has a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old who both attend daycare while she works. She does have a husband, but said he had “constantly sick” lately, leaving her to handle most of the family's needs.
Her former supervisor allowed her to work from home when necessary and thought that family was the most important thing. As long as her work was completed, all was well.
The woman has had a few additional things come up that pulled her from work recently. One requirement was jury duty, which caused a disruption in delivering her cases and caused her to ask for a 24-hour extension.
She was shocked with her new supervisor denied the request and suggested that she should have managed her time better. The distraught worker demanded a one-on-one but was shot down for that as well.
That caused concern about how that late cases would affect her performance statistics and her numbers over the entire year, causing her to look into the legality of the supervisor’s actions.
The case manager took to Facebook to ask whether or not it was illegal for her employer to penalize her for attending jury duty.
That post is what kicked off the investigation into the supervisor. Since then, the employee confessed that her superior has “changed the tone in her emails to ensure she sounds more positive.”
She said the woman has sent objects of recognition and began providing positive feedback and gratitude to her subordinates. However, the Redditor suspects the supervisor’s actions are strictly performative as a result of the pending investigation.
Due to this, she is worried that the work environment will not improve and that she might even be at risk of losing her job, adding that she and several co-workers are looking for new employment due to mistreatment.
Readers don’t think posting on social media was the best idea but assure her that she will likely not be terminated due to the investigation.
Most people advised the woman that sharing anything job-related on social media is a no-no and could result in termination.
One person wrote, “Yup. Anything publicly attached to you especially putting the company on blast can certainly result in dismissal”.
Another knowledgeable Redditor assured her that she was not at risk. They commented, “Well, if an ethics investigation is open into her, the company will also have to be very careful that any discipline that would be directed your way does not look like retaliation, as that could cause even more trouble.”
NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington, and author of seven books. She covers lifestyle and entertainment and news, as well as navigating the workplace and social issues.