Two employees dismissed for criticising management on Facebook

Two employees of Ayada Maldives have been dismissed for criticizing the management on Facebook. The employees had used a Facebook group to express their dissatisfaction regarding conditions for Maldivian staff.

Several employees of the newly opened resort at Gdh. Maguddhu have joined to demonstrate against the dismissals. The resort was opened in November last year is operated by a Turkish company.

A resort employee told Sun that the reason behind the dismissal of the two employees was that they had talked about the bad conditions for staff at the resort on the Facebook group ‘Ayada Maldives pre-opening team’. They had also posted photos showing these conditions.

The Facebook group in question is a ‘closed’ one, meaning its content is visible only to members. A resort employee said that access is given only to current and former employees of the resort.

The resort informed that the employees dismissed are Reservations Assistant Mohamed Habeeb and Front Office employee Abdulla Nishan.

They also said that the two employees have refused to leave the island saying that they have been dismissed against the law.

The management of the resort has confirmed that two of its employees have been dismissed regarding such a case. They said that even though several Maldivian employees are dissatisfied with this development of events, resort operations are not affected.

Habeeb, one of the dismissed employees, said that he was exercising his right to freedom of expression and that he will submit the case to the Employment Tribunal.

“I have the right to do that. And I didn’t say anything bad. I don’t believe that they have the right to dismiss me based on that,” Habeeb said.

Similar incidents concerning much larger companies have taken place around the world. Several offices in Maldives have blocked access to social network websites as it poses several problems.