An employee of a Texas restaurant lost his job after warning people not to eat food from his business, but the internet is not on his side. Reddit user Lonerofanonlyheart5 shared his predicament to r/legal, explaining how he has been “fired for posting about health violation.” The violation in question is a leak that has outside water dripping directly onto a grill used to cook breakfast meals and burgers, but the owner has allegedly ignored prioritizing any repairs.
“I’ve reported it to the health department and OSHA; I made a public post warning people that it would be best not to eat the food, with video evidence of it leaking on the grill,” Lonerofanonlyheart5 wrote, adding that within less than an hour of sharing online, he had been terminated. He then came to r/legal, wondering if there was anything to be done since they were ‘in the right.’ Unfortunately, he didn’t expect that hundreds of Reddit users would show little support, expressing how he had made the worst possible move.
Redditors Slam the Employee for Sharing the Issue on Social Media
“You were on a roll right up until you put it on social media,” sighed a commenter. “Going to the health dept is whistle-blowing. Posting to social media is idiotic,” agreed a second. “I would fire you too,” exclaimed a third.
The top-upvoted comment explained the employee’s mistake clearly, noting that many employers and businesses have strict social media policies. “They can’t fire you for complaining to OSHA or the health department, but they can fire you for posting on social media,” the user wrote.
Based on the termination letter shared in the post, the restaurant’s employer evidently fired the worker for “disparaging the company on social media.” As the comments pointed out, OP should have done the report and stopped there, but the social media justice post was his downfall.
This Texas employee’s termination is an unfortunate yet prime example of why, as one commenter puts it, it’s crucial to “keep social media and work completely separate.” Once that happens, a worker can lose their legal protection, and in this case, their job too.
