Last week, in an opportune turn of events, President Donald Trump's @realdonaldtrump Twitter account was deactivated as a stunt pulled by a disgruntled employee of the social media platform on their last day of work.
Leon Deakin, Partner at law firm Coffin Mew, had this to say for Lawyer Monthly: “The revelation that Donald Trump’s Twitter account was taken down by a disgruntled Twitter employee is a perfect example of the risks employers run when staff with access to sensitive information or with the ability to do harm to the business leave.
“Indeed, under UK employment law when a departing employee decides to go rogue and fire off some form of parting shot there is often little the employer can actually do about it other than apologise to the affected parties and do as Twitter appears to be and ‘conduct a review’ whilst expressing contrition.
“Unless the action results in some form of financial damage to the employer which it can evidence and quantify, the options tend to be extremely limited. Certainly, if the employee was leaving imminently anyway or happy to part company, firing them is pretty impotent. The employer could threaten to withhold a reference or even include mention of the act within any reference given but in many cases, this is unlikely to act as much of a deterrent. The option to litigate may seem attractive, but situations where this is viable are rare.
“This Twitter employee might’ve had ambitions of becoming an ‘internet sensation’ and boosting their profile with non-Trump supporters with this petty parting act – embarrassing their former employer into the bargain, but incurring relatively little punishment.
“Having said that, getting on the wrong side of the President of the United States may well carry more clout than any litigation or workplace sanction could!”
