Have you ever posted a message on Facebook or Twitter that you have later come to regret?

A landmark Employment Tribunal case has ended with a judgement that means posts you may have forgotten all about could come back to haunt you. Our regular Business Boffin and Employment Law Expert, Cathy O'Donoghue (pictured) of HR Champions Ltd, takes up the story.

The Tribunal case of Creighton v Together Housing Association Ltd. was brought by Mr Creighton who claimed that he had been unfairly dismissed for some derogatory comments he had made about his former employer on Twitter.

It's not too unusual to come across this. There have been several well reported cases of employees who have suffered because of poorly judged social media comments about their employers. At HR Champions, we have been asked to support a number of cases involving social media in and around Gloucestershire.

However, the unusual point in this instance was that Mr Creighton's case for taking his dismissal to Tribunal was based largely on the basis that his Twitter comments were three years old.

The posts only came to light because the employer was investigating a claim of bullying from another employee. Those allegations were dismissed, plus:

• Excepting the bullying case, it's unlikely that anybody would have seen the tweets

• The tweets were indeed some years old, and

• Mr Creighton had worked for the company for 30 years

Despite this however, the tribunal upheld the company's decision to dismiss Mr Creighton on the grounds of gross misconduct.

The Tribunal based its decision on the grounds that the derogatory Tweets did amount to gross misconduct; that they had been made on an open account that could be viewed by anyone and would be available to view for ever. Also, the tribunal concluded that the age of the tweets didn't matter.

This could be a significant ruling by an Employment Tribunal, particularly because the age of the tweets was irrelevant. We could potentially see a raft of similar cases in the future.

If you need support with any disciplinary matters or help with a robust social media policy please call us on 01452 331331 or e-mail info@hrchampions.co.uk.