Lawsuit Filed by Man Fired for LinkedIn Profile

(Posted on 05/01/12)

Calling it an "inappropriate use of social networking", BG Group, a gas exploration firm in Reading Berks, ordered one of its employees, John Flexman, 34, to remove his CV which was placed on the business networking site LinkedIn. The primary complaint his employer has is that Flexman checked the box "career opportunities", suggesting he was open to new career offers.

Once his employer saw his profile, Flexman was ordered, via email, to remove any reference to his current employer and what it feels is confidential information in his CV, including details about how he had reduced firm's the rate of staff attrition. Upon his return to work after a vacation, Flexman was formally disciplined and warned he still might be fired (instead, Flexman resigned an cited a 'breakdown in is relationship with senior executives' as his reasoning).

BG Group justifies its actions by pointing out a conflict of interest that presented with the details their employee included on the site. Flexman claims the details he posted were readily available in the company’s annual reports and that 21 of his colleagues, including the manager of the disciplinary process, had ticked the "career opportunities" box but had not been disciplined.

Flexman said, "He told me to remove from my profile all information regarding BG Group except for job titles and dates. I did not think this was reasonable...it seemed to me that the focus of the charge sheet was the posting of my CV online."

More than eight million British members are a part of LinkedIn at in 2007, a study was conducted and revealed around half have the box for new career opportunities checked.

Now, both Flexman and BG Group are preparing to present their respective cases at a tribunal. Solicitors in the UK appear to be leaning towards Flexman having a stronger case, though the tribunal will issue the final ruling.