A friend of mine, S, phoned me today saying he has been suspended from work for a week. Apparently he was pulled in " for a chat" with HR, who told him that they had found some comments slagging off the company on a graduate recruitment website forum. They identified him as the username on the forum was "gingerHIS SURNAME" (he is ginger). Needless to say, it wasn't him, and he hasn't been told much except that he's suspended for a week (on full pay) pending further investigation. he's had a look at the posts on the forum himself (did a search) and they have some inconsistencies to what his carreer inthe company has been, and the poster has mentioned previous employers, which he hasn't been employed in. On the forum there is another post from another employee of the company slagging off, but the name is totally unidentifiable. is it discriminatory that they've singled him out based on his surname? He repeatedly told the Hr person that it clearly wasn't him but he got the feeling their mind was made up!
He is obviously very concerned about this, and it appears his line manager hasn't been told much either. I have advised him to ask the Citizens Advice for some info as to what he can do to protect himself. I suspect the IP address of the poster can be identified? They mentioned that they looked at his internet usage and mentioned that it was quite high, but he uses it for work purposes mainly, and does use it for "entertainment" every so often during the day (who doesn't!), but he's worrying they might jump on that as well and sack him for it???
Just wondered if anyone had any advice for him?
TIA!
ETA - we work in different companies!
