I discovered a post on in a large, private nursing discussion group on a social media website.
The person posting works for the same organization that I do. I challenged that person and got REAMED for being a "rat". Am I wrong in thinking that I need to report a serious allegation made against the organization that I am a loyal employee? It was not just a vent or rant, there was an actionable allegation made.
I contacted the person's superior anonymously. Now I have to decide to take it further or not.
**not asking for legal advice. It has nothing to do with me or anywhere near where I work-it is a different entity entirely-but part of the bigger organization.
Because her FB page is public and it lists her place of employment.
I am not an HR troll. I was reading a thread when this popped up in it. People can complain, but when you make a libelous allegation, then I see nothing wrong with reporting it. It was not a rant or a vent, it was a straight up allegation of discrimination.
I thought, and still think, that there is nothing wrong with protecting my employer.
I wasn't suggesting YOU were an HR "troll", lol, I was just saying that it's pretty common practice nowadays to have someone (or more than one) in HR scanning the internet, looking for anything linked to the facility's name. That way they see good....and bad...etc.
If you are happy with your actions, then that's that. You DID post here, asking for feedback, so you got it: not all are going to agree that your actions were warranted. If you're ok with it, so be it. But now you know what others think, too.
Because her FB page is public and it lists her place of employment.
I am not an HR troll. I was reading a thread when this popped up in it. People can complain, but when you make a libelous allegation, then I see nothing wrong with reporting it. It was not a rant or a vent, it was a straight up allegation of discrimination.
I thought, and still think, that there is nothing wrong with protecting my employer.
but if you do not personally work with the people in question (as is my understanding here), how do you *know* the allegation is libelous?
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
It may not be unfounded, but putting on FB is not the best place to address it. I am sorry I will not elaborate on the allegation, but it was a serious one.
This has nothing to do with a vendetta or a promotion. I saw something that didn't sit right with me and I addressed it. They only way that I knew it was some one from my organization was her listing her place of employment on her public FB page.
Yes I did ask about this and I will take what all of you have offered; the good with the bad.
I hear you OP, and am with you. I disagree with the other comments. I'm thinking of various scenarios in which I can completely understand your viewpoint.
OP, you said in one post that you were not worried about retaliation because the person was in no position to retaliate, in another post you said you wanted to report anonymously because you were concerned about retaliation.
It was in MY organization. Not far away, in my backyard.
Thank you for lesson in semantics.
I wasn't "policing" a social media site, I was enjoying a group of nurses that share stories and recognized the situation. The situation was actually brought up on this site and made it to FB.
I see that they majority of you see nothing wrong with an employee making an allegation against her employer that could cause damage. I happened upon it and, again, I am getting the opposite reaction that I thought I would by trying to defend my employer.
It is now, how would it know that an employee is making allegations unless someone tells them.
I still am flabbergasted that you all think that I am in the wrong. I did not go looking for this but happened upon it, and did what I thought was right.
Oh well.
And btw I wanted to be anonymous because I am afraid of retaliation for bringing this to light. I am not stupid to think it wouldn't happen. Doesn't matter, the supervisor knows my identity. What happens from here on out, it's out of my hands. I still think it is wrong to make a serious, libelous, allegation against your employer when you are in a position of teaching new nurses. There is a social media policy that was violated as well.
And I am sure that your organization has a department that seeks out stuff like this on social media--especially if it is a large parent company.
I would think I would rather not be involved in this social media discussion group. There is bound to be instances where someone is less than stellar in their opinions. It is never a good idea to put your place of employment even ON social media. It can and will be held against you should you not conform to the company's idea of whatever the company's ideas are.
Coming from someone who has been there, your idea of loyalty due to the company's excellent treatment of you is not the same story everywhere, nor for all nurses. There are many who have a totally different story to tell. Their truth is not yours. If I had a quarter for every long term (7+ year) nurse who has felt the effects of a company's new and improved business/customer service model, I would have enough money to fund my now defunct pension.
What should happen is that you can think about excusing yourself from the group. Or in fact the company may choose to shut down the page. Anything you say or anyone else says in the name of the company could be considered a lot of things--libel comes to mind--even if you are enthusiastically defending the company's honor. Or the fact you are all "sharing stories" (the PC way of saying gossiping?)
That you are choosing to participate can be a slippery slope for all, along with the company in general--Privacy (even if using "code" ie: the smelly guy in 14) and other general discussion could have consequences for all.
Next time you can push the "report this post" button and have social media take off the post. And perhaps ban the person who wrote it for a few days. If the intent was to not have it seen, get it off the page, whatever. OR you could have messaged the person directly with you should perhaps take your place of employment off your page if you are gonna dis them" kind of a thing.
No discussion group is gonna be kumbya all the time. Or it would be called marketing. And we all have had enough of that, no?
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
OP, In my reading, my understanding us that it was a post you made that ended up on Facebook along with the other person's.
I don't understand this. I asked the poster on FB what her motivation was for asking the question.bringing up the scenario.
I have since left the group. This was a rather benign group-"what shoes do you where", "what's your specialty" "how long have you been a nurse". Nothing at all like what goes on here.
OP, you said in one post that you were not worried about retaliation because the person was in no position to retaliate, in another post you said you wanted to report anonymously because you were concerned about retaliation.
Yes I did. I was afraid of retaliation meaning, the person them-self coming after me personally, not organization-wide. I should have clarified.
@mmc51264, BSN, RN My god you must be a real treat to work with . Your coworkers must have evolved eyes in the backs of their heads to watch for the daggers you premeditatively plan to plunge into their backs.
You sound like a bit of a $hit disturber. Plain and simple. Don't you have enough to do at work, or enough going on in your personal life to keep you busy? You sound kind of like a jar-head... you're really great at taking orders without questioning. Where are your critical thinking skills?! Seriously. Large organizations have systems in place to scour the internet for employees activity or any marring of their "brand"... negating the need for espionage and moles like you. You better pray that no one at your place of work finds out what you did. If so, you have single-highhandedly and deservedly alienated yourself. I hope, for the potential headache you created for this woman and for the sake of your colleagues, that your fellow nurses all find out what you did so you learn a lesson. What you did was practically pathological.
Think about it for a second, what does your activity do for morale in the workplace or the culture of nursing? Incite a culture of fear and backstabbing! Why would any future employers hire you if they knew you go around looking for and causing trouble? Unless this other nurse you alluded to had breached patient confidentially or was doing something to harm the public, you had no place in this matter. You handled this all wrong. I think you realize this now, too. Otherwise, you wouldn't have come onto this forum looking for approval, trying to elicit sympathy/support, and justification for your actions.
Was there no one you consulted (or could have consulted) before you decided to initiate this war? In the future, before you act irrationally, you could post a question anonymously on allnurses.com and request the advice from everyone here. That would have been a smarter strategy.
I could see (big fat maybe) a student or someone new to nursing potentially making this mistake, but according to your profile you have 4 years of licensed experience.
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
I think you are being an old fashioned tattle tale because you don't like the woman and want to get her in trouble.
i will address this one first. I do not know the person. I work in the hospital, the other person works in the nursing school. Wouldn't know this person if I tripped over them. It was not personal in any sense. She made an allegation that I thought was important enough to take to her supervisor. It was handled.
Was there no one you consulted (or could have consulted) before you decided to initiate this war? In the future, before you act irrationally, you could post a question anonymously on allnurses.com and request the advice from everyone here. That would have been a smarter strategy.
I did consult veteran nurses on my unit as well as my NM, and I thought about for a while-nothing was done irrationally. It is not a war. I sent an email to the person's supervisor instead of HR to allow it to be kept in the person's area, not organization-wide.
It was not a mistake.
And you just insulted every Marine by calling me a "jar-head" that only knows how to take orders. You have no idea what kind of nurse I am. As I stated above, it was not a person I know, it was a person associated with the nursing school, not the acute care unit that I work on.
As defensive as you sound, you seem like someone I would be concerned working with. I have a great working relationship with my immediate colleagues. As I have said ad nauseaum I came upon a statement randomly and recognized the institution as my own and the damage said statement could cause.
I did not come here for sympathy. I am comfortable with what I did and would do it again. I came to see what others thought and now I know: not too many people would stand up for their employer.
. Your coworkers must have evolved eyes in the backs of their heads to watch for the daggers you premeditatively plan to plunge into their backs.
RNsRWe, ASN, RN
3 Articles; 10,428 Posts
I wasn't suggesting YOU were an HR "troll", lol, I was just saying that it's pretty common practice nowadays to have someone (or more than one) in HR scanning the internet, looking for anything linked to the facility's name. That way they see good....and bad...etc.
If you are happy with your actions, then that's that. You DID post here, asking for feedback, so you got it: not all are going to agree that your actions were warranted. If you're ok with it, so be it. But now you know what others think, too.