Should employers fire workers based on Facebook behaviour?

I bet her service wasn't even that good. But I shouldn't judge.

Just saying that if a waiter doesn't give me more than average service, I tip them 0.

I worked in the food industry for a while and if I feel I gave average/below average service, I wouldn't deserve a tip.

With all the warnings out there I dont understand why someone in their right sense of mine would not heed to the wrttings on the wall. People especially young people it seems have not yet grasped the concept of airing your your dirty laundry in public and boy, facebook has become that tool. Love it or hate you have to choose what you want the public to know. The employer in this case was well within their right. I hope people realize that facebook is not their personal piggie bank or play pen and without the privacy settings in place, you might as well open your house and your heart and let everyone in on your most "private" matters because that is exectly what it boils down to.

Tip = To insure promptness= if dodo brain waitress had done a decent job....and didn't act out because the people she was serving stayed later than she liked...hey they paid for their meal....are under no obligation to leave a gratuity....and hey 5 bucks is 5 bucks more than she had before they came in...get over it chicky...as for her employers...give me a break guys....you have nothing better to do than creep your little waitress fb...friggin stalkers

Somewhat off topic; why are wait staff paid well below minimum wage? How is it fair to put such risk to a low-income person's ability to survive? Why is it not on the shoulders of the employer and the person eating the mea> The wages of ALL staff shoule be worked into the cost of the product, which includes the service. You want to eat out - pay x$ so that I can pay my people and make a decent profit at the same time. Then the employee has no reason to slag a person sitting at there table for three hours w/o tipping. It does not effect the wait staffs bottom line. If the person feels that an exceptional job has been done they can add a bonus by tipping.

The risk should be on the employers shoulders NOT the emloyee!

we have the same policy at my work and wouldn't even think of trashing a customer and then mentioning my employer -- that is just plain dumb. It is stated in my employee manual not to speak of my employer on face book that would look bad on the company.
If there was a policy then she should have been fired.

If its not on company time, then no one has a right to say anything to you. Its against her rights to freedom of speach, I do understand why the company was upset but unless they are paying her for her personal time that she has, the company has oversteped their boundires. Policy or not they had no right to fire her I would be contacting a lawyer to see if it even leagal for them to have that policy in place since it renages the rights to freedom of speech. If employers want to see their employees profiles in my opion thats fine but the bottom line is we still have the as human beings to say what we want wether or not they like it.

You people are insane, i sometimes wonder what kind of world we live in. You all been judging a poor girl and support the idea that someone from work is spying on her!!! I know that economy is bad, but this country is still FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND WRITING!!! This is now post war Russia and you are not KGB!!!

Thankfully, I'm not a facebook user. However, when facebook first came out, I informed my friends and family that this was going to be a very bad idea. Now, I see that my first impressions were correct. All I can say is, if you use facebook, look at it as something that the whole world will see. If you don't mind the world seeing it, then post it.

That is the main reason I no longer tip anyone. Call me cheap I don't care, but I work harder for my money than any waitress. Restaurants should pay minimum wage to employees, and abolish tips that way a customer does not feel forced to give anything after already spending a good amount of money for a meal they could of made themselves at home.

why don't yous all wake up, we live in Canada, we have the right to freedom of speech and freedom of exprsion, it should never come between work, unless your on facebook at work, then after three time your fired, just because you say or do things on facebook, you should not be fired from your job.

FIRE THEM, if they are Dumb enough to talk about their work or others from work, if they don't realize it or anyone else. Even if you don't have a contract in place that states that you cannot slander your employer or anyone that works with you, or a customer law still applies. Unless she/he can prove that those people where cheap (they did give something proves they are not) she is actually slandering them, and could be sued for it. In her/his case it would make her employer look bad and also responsible to pay a portion of the restitution to the couple if they decided to sue, if the employer did not take reasonable measures once he/she found out about the incident. In this case it would of been getting fired, as the restaurant is mentioned and is publicly displayed.

most of you that are saying she should be fired, run a restaurant, and dont care about there employees, as long as the money goes in there pockets, i'm sure there are days when they have a problem with someone and say something about the person, but they don't get fired, when you enter a restaurant you already know you'll be tipping after your meal, but a lot of people look for a reason not to tip, and you know who yous are, the rich. oooooo no now i may get fired.

@VisceralConviction It is true servers do get paid under regular minimium wage in ontario at least http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/info/minimumwage/ with that said 5$ is not a bad tip if the bill was like 30-40$ but we are not given that information...but then again the guests sat at her table for three hours (one hour past clock-out time)I never understood how people never realize that it is closing time....on the other hand complaining on facebook and naming the restaurant was just stupid...Servers are suppose to declare all tips at tax time....but with that said if they were to apply for a loan it is not considered as income so why are servers being taxed on monies that alot of institutions don't consider viable income (which also includes the goverment with things like maternity leave) and what some ppl in the above posts think servers shouldn't get to being with...remember you get what you give If a server does their job there is No reason not to tip them accordingly....Everyone should work in a restaurant for at least 6months and actually see how ppl treat others they think are below them....anyways i am ranting:) <3 Server was wrong in the way she vented for sure.....but not enough to be fired

2 sides is right I would have canned the waitress or any employee who talked bad of my customer/cunsumer or at least gave a warning to as for doing it because it was oon Facebook if you want to advertise to the world about the place you work in a negative light expect to get fired.

I don't think employers should have any say over what their employees do in their personal/social lives. Everyone bitches about work, it's a fact, get over it. The problem is, that a lot of these businesses are run like a dictatorship where people are like slaves. They walk out of the free world everyday into these places that are run like prisons and have to subject themselves to being intimidated by power hungery bosses cause they have to put food on the table. It's a joke. And employees need more rights in the work place. And the fact that facebook is constantly under investigation for privacy laws, should enable and any employee to sue the shit out of their employer for firing them over something they said on facebook because it's obvious their privacy isn't being protected.

They had every right to fire her over a work related comment, especially if she listed the name of the restaurant. But if the employers are snooping and want to fire someone over their weekend partying pictures with a bong, I don't think employer's have to right to do that.

I have one of those 'good office jobs', you know... the ones that pay just enough to get buy. So I also have a part time job, waitressing. The money is pretty decent... IF the customers are decent. A $5 tip is relative... $5 on a $30 tab... is alright... $5 on a $180 tab is an insult. That being said, it is entirely up to the guest to decide how much or little they want to tip. My job is to convince them to pony up by giving fantastic service. :)

I work for a 'chain' resturant and we all had to sign agreements regarding this kind of thing. Its not rocket science. Good comments from others (including staff) = more guests = more money for the business AND the servers. MY policy at work when it comes to tip amounts is simple "you cant win them all but at least make it so that if they tip poorly, its not because I gave poor service !!"

In response to Ana: Don't make out that waitressing is a dangerous job. Therer are people that actually loose lives in the line of duty for their jobs and to my knowledge waitressing isn't one of them. People in the service industry do endure a lot of foolishness from customers but it's your choice to be in that line of work. I take comments too from my work, which most people wouldn't think normal in my profession, but it happens with all job types, and we don't expect to be tipped anything.

Tipping is supposed to be a show of good service (graditude) not paying your wages for the restaurant!

Maybe the $5.00 was 15% of their total...And tipping is not a requirement, its a privilege...If you get it, whatever you may get, you should be happy with it. A job is a job and you do get paid for it - There are crappy clients and/or risks involved in alot of things - Retail workers also have to deal with terrible customers and they dont get tips. Honestly, I hope this whiney idiot doesn't get a job anywhere. Perhaps the $5.00 was all the couple could afford - Its a SERVICE...And there is thing called a telephone if you really need to vent about it that much...When you post things like that on Facebook, all you are asking for is sympathy in droves...Its pathetic...And I totally agree with the post about the situation being reversed and the restaurant posting something about her...I think Facebeook should do a pre-screening so the idiots in the world dont contaminate the Facebook community...

VisceralConviction,
Having worked as a waitress, and having 2 friends who have been waiters, I can definitely tell you that yes, servers and bartenders do get paid less than minimum wage. There is a "regular" minimum wage for most jobs, and there is a slightly lower minimum wage specifically for people who are servers/bartenders, because of the assumption that they will make the rest up with tips.

But I agree she shouldn't have been fired just for bitching about having a bad night on facebook. Big deal. If the boss was that concerned he could've warned her and told her to either:
a) put her profile on private or b) take the company name and status update off.
I guarantee she wouldn't have done it again. To fire someone over that is just ridiculous.