HR Executive 'forced out of job' over his LinkedIn CV status

Published on 9 Jan 2012 under category: article

A human resources executive was forced out of his job after annoying his employer by putting his CV online and advertising that he was interested in other “career opportunities”, a tribunal was told.

John Flexman, 34, is thought to be the first person in the country to bring a case for constructive dismissal after a dispute with bosses over his profile status on the professional networking site LinkedIn.

Mr Flexman is claiming hundreds of thousands of pounds from BG Group (formerly British Gas), based in Reading, Berks, where he earned a £68,000 salary with responsibility for graduate recruitment.

As well as uploading his CV to the site, Mr Flexman ticked a box to register an interest in “career opportunities”.

But he was contacted by his line manager while on holiday in the United States and ordered to take down his CV. On returning from holiday he was accused of “inappropriate use of social media” and told to attend an internal disciplinary hearing.

He was then given a list of disciplinary charges and told he could be sacked, Reading Employment Tribunal heard.

Ticking “career opportunities” box a breach of company policy

BG Group asserted that he was in breach of a new company policy on conflicts of interest which it said banned employees ticking the “career opportunities” box.

He was further accused of including confidential information in his CV such as details about how he had reduced firm's the rate of staff attrition.

In his defence, Mr Flexman claimed the details he posted were available in the company’s annual reports and that 21 of his colleagues, including the manager of the disciplinary process, had ticked the "career opportunities" box but had not faced disciplinary action.

Mr Flexman, a married father of a two-year-old daughter, said: “In his email Mr [Antony] Seigel [Mr Flexman's manager] said that a complaint had been made about my LinkedIn profile and that I was required to remove it immediately.
"He told me to remove from my profile all information regarding BG Group except for job titles and dates. I did not think this was reasonable. It seemed to me that the focus of the charge sheet was the posting of my CV online."

LinkedIn is a social networking service similar to Facebook, but focused on building professional rather than personal relationships. More than eight million UK members are encouraged to keep a record of their skills and experience online and up-to-date to help them make useful business contacts.

The dispute over his profile led to Mr Flexman’s resignation in June following a breakdown in his relationship with senior executives.

Social media and employment law

The case raises broad issues for how employees use social media sites such as LinkedIn and what is reasonable and unreasonable under employment law. According to a study of LinkedIn taken in 2007, around half its members indicate they are interested in career opportunities on their profile.

“We welcome the opportunity to present our case at the tribunal, the appropriate forum, we will defend our position but do not wish to pre-empt the tribunal’s ruling by commenting further," a spokesman for BG Group said.

Cubism Law employment specialist, David Buckle commented:

The issue here seems not just that Mr Flexman was on LinkedIn and mentioned his now previous employer but the contents of his posting. Mr Flexman apparently admitted under cross examination that he went into “too much detail” so it appears his employer is accusing him of painting a poor picture of his employer on the internet.

Whilst stating that you are looking for new positions on LinkedIn is unlikely to provide a strong (if any) basis for disciplinary action, stating confidential information on the internet or making potentially derogatory comments about one’s employer is likely to be supported as grounds for such action. Employees should always take great care with any references they make to their existing employers when using these social networking sites.

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