Nursing and being a youtuber

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Asking a question for my friend. My friend is a Youtube prankster (primarily makes non harmful pranks in the public) sometimes pranks where there are harsh reactions but nothing too crazy. He’s also just becoming a nurse. My question is: if the hospital was to find out about his prank channel, can they fire him for it? I’ve always been curious about this question myself because I would assume they can’t just fire you over something you do OUTSIDE of work that does not affect your actual job at all? Can someone give me quality information about the answer to this question? Thank you

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And also another piece of info to throw in this: many of his fellow coworkers have verbalized that they enjoyed watching his pranks and thought they were funny. He’s just curious as to what the managers / hospitals can LEGALLY do if they find out about it

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19 minutes ago, xlightx said:

And also another piece of info to throw in this: many of his fellow coworkers have verbalized that they enjoyed watching his pranks and thought they were funny. He’s just curious as to what the managers / hospitals can LEGALLY do if they find out about it

An employer can fire you for almost any reason at all. In fact, they don't even need to give you a reason. "Youtuber" is not a protected class.

Employers' own policies may offer more consideration. Specific contracts between employers and employees/unions might also change things up. Otherwise, employers have the same freedom to get rid of you that you have to get rid of them.

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In short? Oh yes they can fire you for what you do on your off time if by any stretch they feel it puts their facility in a bad light.  Just search through this site and you can see a lot of real life examples.

In fact, a lot of the time unacceptable social media behavior is delineated in the employee handbook which you must read-and-sign at hiring.

 

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If he knows what is good for him, he will cease that activity now and make every attempt to remove or control access to prior postings. Employers can get rid of an employee for any ‘reason’ or no reason at all. As stated before, there are examples on this site, as well as elsewhere on the internet, of people losing their job over internet activity.  

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On 10/22/2020 at 5:11 AM, CharleeFoxtrot said:

In short? Oh yes they can fire you for what you do on your off time if by any stretch they feel it puts their facility in a bad light.  Just search through this site and you can see a lot of real life examples.

In fact, a lot of the time unacceptable social media behavior is delineated in the employee handbook which you must read-and-sign at hiring.

Can you send me an example similar to this situation 

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Specializes in school nurse.
20 hours ago, xlightx said:

Can you send me an example similar to this situation 

Google "nurses fired for social media posting". You'll get some food for thought.

Also, the fact that you've asked this question makes me think you suspect what the answer is...

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Specializes in PICU.

How would the hospital find out about his Youtube channel unless someone specifically wants to "out" him. I personally don't see how this channel impacts his ability to be a nurse. As long as he doesn't identify his place of employment, that he is a nurse... however if vindictive people want him fired over something he does in his free time, it could happen. 

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Specializes in school nurse.

True, or hospital people could come across it while surfing through Youtube themselves. Once it's out there, there are no guarantees...

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
59 minutes ago, RNNPICU said:

How would the hospital find out about his Youtube channel unless someone specifically wants to "out" him. I personally don't see how this channel impacts his ability to be a nurse. As long as he doesn't identify his place of employment, that he is a nurse... however if vindictive people want him fired over something he does in his free time, it could happen. 

Facilities employ people whose sole job is to track social media. Is it likely they’d find this Youtube channel quickly without key words? No, but it’s possible. 

Most social media reports do come from coworkers. That’s another angle to consider. 

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19 hours ago, Jedrnurse said:

Google "nurses fired for social media posting". You'll get some food for thought.

Also, the fact that you've asked this question makes me think you suspect what the answer is...

I searched that and just found sources of nurses violating patients privacy or stuff related to bashing the place they work at. Nothing in terms of doing a hobby outside of work?

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2 hours ago, RNNPICU said:

How would the hospital find out about his Youtube channel unless someone specifically wants to "out" him. I personally don't see how this channel impacts his ability to be a nurse. As long as he doesn't identify his place of employment, that he is a nurse... however if vindictive people want him fired over something he does in his free time, it could happen. 

That’s how I see it. If my friend is a good nurse and doesn’t do anything bringing work into his prank channel, why would it matter? ya he’s doing for the most part non harmful pranks on his channel but why should that make a difference

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