🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
A woman in Spain has been made to regret her use of social media after a video posted to TikTok wound up getting her fired.
According to local reports, the High Court of Justice of Castile and León ratified the dismissal of an unnamed female supermarket employee who lost her job after videos surfaced on TikTok of her dancing at a time when she was supposed to be off work with lower back pain.
Social media screening is an increasingly common component of the recruitment process for companies in the U.S. According to a study by business services website The Manifest, 90 percent of recruiters consider social media output to be an important factor when considering an individual.
The same research also revealed 79 percent of HR officials admit to having rejected a candidate due to their social media content. The need to keep things professional on the likes of Facebook, Twitter and TikTok has been further highlighted by this latest incident being reported out of Spain.
According to the official ruling, which was published by La Vanguardia, the videos uploaded by the woman were considered as conclusive evidence of her deception. A court in Burgos had previously sided with her employer, Semark AC Group S.A., Supermercados Lupa, which first fired the cashier after being informed of the existence of several videos she had previously uploaded to TikTok.
El Norte De Castilla reported that the firing occurred back on September 14, 2021, after the unnamed worker had spent almost nine months on leave due to lower back pain.
The worker, who had reportedly been with the company for 15 years, had only recently renewed her benefits claim having provided medical reports backing up her claims.
According to the news outlet, her alleged deception was uncovered by an area manager, who subsequently informed the supermarket's human resources department about the issue.
In reviewing the case, the High Court of Justice of Castile and León concluded that the dance and movements executed by the woman in the video were "incompatible with her ailments."
Further evidence of the way in which work and social media definitely don't mix came on Reddit, where one user detailed how their negative remarks about their boss ended up being passed on to him by a meddling co-worker.
Elsewhere, a man was fired from his job after posting a TikTok video that was later branded racist online. It can work both ways though, with one boss coming in for criticism on LinkedIn after bemoaning the lack of quality applicants for a vacant role at the company.
About the writer
Jack Beresford is a Newsweek Senior Internet Culture & Trends Reporter, based in London, UK. His focus is reporting on ... Read more