Has anyone found where the full judgement of this case is on the net? I am interested to review the full story.

Whilst supporting the idea of taking personal responsibility for ones own actions and this includes postings on social media, I wonder if Apple will pursue everyone who makes derogatory comments about them or, if the employee had used a fictitious "Joe Bloggs" type facebook account would they have chased down the real account holder with such zeal.

The disturbing thing to me is that the employee seems to have taken reasonable precautions to keep his post private. Someone clearly circumvented the privacy settings to print and publicize the post. If you extend this line of thinking to other forms of communication, it gets very stupid very quickly.

I'm not a fan of social media in general and do agree that there should be boundaries however, I think dismissal is an overreaction to an employees venting. I do not believe one persons opinion can truly damage a global brand. That is unless the employees opinion was in fact an ugly truth the business wanted to hide. I am troubled by the inconsistency of "privacy" settings not affording any such thing. I would also question the motivation of the friend who decided to blow the whistle. Not really a good step forward for employees to have such little trust in ones colleagues. Personally I'm more for working together in a supportive way than trying to bring each other down.

I think the point of this case is not about the impact on Apple’s brand or indeed anyone’s brand but the consequences of an individual’s actions when using social media.  Of course someone is perfectly entitled to have a personal view.  But the fact of the matter that airing these views via social media does not mean you’re immune to the consequences of your actions.<br/><br/>We deal with an increasing number of businesses with staff making comments about colleagues and or the company and they feel powerless to stop them.  Take the example in yesterday’s press of the young lady that had very personal pictures comments posted by a former boy friend and was powerless to stop it. <br/><br/>Personally I think there is growing number of people that think they can do or say what they want to who they want and not take any personal responsibility for their action.  And sadly social media the smart phone is the perfect vehicle to do this.  Well no…what would you do, how would you feel is someone posted inappropriate comments about you or your business?<br/><br/>Whilst I am an advocate of social media and see it as a powerful tool for business and for the small guy to fight injustice, I also see it as a devastating force to wreck business brand, to bully and make someone’s life hell.  I endorse Amita’s comments about a comprehensive policies and I am also an advocate of making people responsible for themselves again.<br/><br/>I agree with Barbara it was the right outcome made possible but effective policy.

You will not generally find a printed judgment unless you are searching for a decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal or the Court of Appeal.  First instance tribunal decisions are not published.

A dismissal, ET case and the attendant publicity arguably will be more widely broadcast and impact upon the Apple brand than the rantings of a disgruntled shop worker to his social network. <br/><br/>Bearing in mind that I have not read the entire judgement and therefore do not know whether the comments made were of sufficient "strength" to make continued employment incompatible with the sentiment expressed (effectively breaking the implied term of mutual trust and confidence)or aspecific term oof their Social Media Policy, I wonder whether action short of dismissal (a final written warning perhaps)together with a public retraction to the relevant Facebook audience would have been suited Apple's purposes better. <br/><br/>Nevertheless I would advocate companies adopting comprehensive and well drafted social media policies in addition to any in-house IT user policy.

Can anyone provide or refer me to the full judgment on this case? (I have tried ET and BAILLI websites)  thanks in advance.

But a policy is not necessarily a term of employment.<br/>It will depend on the facts of the case, including the nature of the comments.  It would be wrong to use social media policies as a means of suppressing the right to free speech or personal opinion.

I am at a loss to understand how this outcome is better for Apple's image than a private message on Facebook. Apple's brand has always tried to paint them in the 'stylish geek' mode - only interested in making things work, and work elegantly. Big brother interventions such as this do not sit well with the technophiles who make/made up their core customer base. Gross misconduct seems a desperate overreaction - a warning would have been quite sufficient.

A really sensible outcome. Very useful to see that a comprehensive policy is effective.