Tweeting for a Toke, Man Loses Job

By former Associate Ethan Don

A reminder to all employers and employees about the relevance of social media in the workplace – if you’re planning something illegal, posting it publicly on Twitter (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other publicly accessible social media site) is generally a bad idea.

As reported by CNN (article here), a repair shop employee in Toronto tweeted that he was looking for someone to deliver weed to his workplace. He named his workplace and its location. The York Regional Police saw the tweet, responded, and also sent the tweet to a member of the repair shop’s board of directors. By that evening, the employee had been terminated.

Maybe his next tweet (though his Twitter account was deleted) will be “looking for a job.”

Employees – there is no expectation of privacy for publicly available postings!

Employers – remind your employees to be careful with what they say online and make sure they understand that you may monitor Facebook and Twitter.