A lawyer from Australia has issued a warning to employees about the potential consequences of using work group chats to communicate. According to the lawyer, using these chats could result in employees being fired.
We all enjoy being part of a group chat, don’t we? It’s a great way to chat with friends about various topics, like outfits, summer plans, and sharing details about our day. We often use it as a means to express our thoughts and feelings. While it’s fine to do so with friends outside of work, things can turn sour if you decide to create a group chat with your work colleagues.
Roxanne Hart from Hart & Co Lawyers recently shared a TikTok video where she warned employees about the risks of using work group chats. This warning came after a hotel bartender from Sydney was sacked due to her communications in a group chat.
For some context, the bartender trusted the members of the group chat, thinking that they were loyal friends. She used the chat to vent her frustrations about the lack of shifts and expressed her dissatisfaction with those in charge. She even tried to gather support from other employees to speak out. Unfortunately, not everyone in the chat kept it a secret, and word got back to the bosses.
The bartender was called in for a meeting where she was informed that if her behavior continued, she would lose her job. Believing that she had identified the person who had leaked the information, she created another group chat with fewer colleagues. However, it seems they couldn’t resist sharing the details, and management once again became aware of the situation.
As a result, the bartender was fired for her comments in the chat and a perceived decline in her work standards and behavior. She filed an unfair dismissal case, but it was unsuccessful. Fair Work, an organization responsible for employment grievances, stated that there was no grounds to describe the group chat as private, considering the bartender’s position of authority and the company’s instruction to work together without questioning management decisions.
In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Roxanne Hart explained that employees can put their employer in a negative light and breach their duty to act in good faith by engaging in certain activities outside of work. She highlighted work group chat conversations as a classic example. If these conversations occur on the employer’s systems, such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, the employer has stronger grounds to terminate the employee since the breach of their tech and communication policies is evident.
Hart also mentioned that if the employer becomes aware of the chat, they may ask to see the content to determine whether it violates company policies. Consequently, employees may need to provide evidence if they want to keep their job.
It’s essential for employees to be cautious when using work group chats and ensure that their conversations align with their employer’s guidelines. Engaging in inappropriate or unfavorable discussions can have severe consequences, including job loss.
