‘Unfriend’ and risk bullying

Careful who you strike off your Facebook friends list – unfriending a colleague could constitute workplace bullying.

An Australian workplace tribunal decision has found a Tasmanian real estate agent, Rachael Roberts, was bullied by her employer when she was removed as a friend on the social networking site.

Media reports said the stoush started when Roberts complained that she was not getting her properties fairly represented in the office front window.

Lisa Bird, the wife of the agency principal who was also the sales administrator, called a meeting and accused her of being a ‘‘naughty little school girl running to the teacher’’.

Roberts then found Bird had deleted her as a Facebook friend.

The tribunal found unfriending Roberts on Facebook showed a ‘‘lack of emotional maturity’’ and was ‘‘indicative of unreasonable behaviour’’.

‘‘Mrs Bird took the first opportunity to draw a line under the relationship with Ms Roberts ... when she removed her as a friend on Facebook as she did not like Ms Roberts and would prefer not to have to deal with her,’’ commission deputy president Nicole Wells was reported as saying.

Auckland employment lawyer Alison Maelzer of Hesketh Henry said the same thing could happen in New Zealand.

‘‘We know that out-of-work conduct can amount to bullying or harassment.’’

She said there had been a number of workplace disputes where social media had been involved.

She pointed to one, in which Alana Adams took the Wellington Free Ambulance Service to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), claiming she was unjustifiably dismissed.

A co-worker made a complaint after she abused him on Facebook about a dispute they had had over a break.

While Adams was found to have been unjustifiably dismissed, the ERA noted her interactions on Facebook were legitimate areas of concern for her employer.