This is so dumb, it makes my head hurt. An employee called out, claiming a family emergency. Then he proceeded to post photos of his day trip all over his social media with hashtags that said, playing hooky. I know everyone has played hooky but to announce it on their public social media accounts. Should we fire him for being stupid?

I don’t believe you should fire him but I do believe a conversation is needed.

While working, I never believed in calling out of work unless it was a sickness or death that required my full attention but not posting about playing hooky. What is one person’s emergency, might not be another person’s emergency but recognizing that the time needed to be taken to spend time with family.

Fire him? For what? Unless he’s habitually calling in. What company policy did he violate that would constitute termination? It was a family emergency for him. He needed to take time away from his job and focus on something that matters. Companies truly feel like employees owe them their lives. The fact that this is even a thought confirms his justification for needing to get away and take a mental health day.

Do i think he should have lied? NO
Should he have used his PTO? YES
Again- What work policy did he break?
Personally, I think his co-workers are jealous and that's why they RATTED him out.

Sounds like Breach of Trust if i'm honest. That is sackable.

To clarify, his coworkers sent me the screenshots of his social media posts. He wasn't with his family. He took the day off to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with his friends. They went bar hopping. He has tons of unused PTO so he could have just used that. Plus, he was hungover when he came into the office yesterday. It's more of the fact that he called in 15 minutes before his shift was to start, then posting all over SM about playing hooky, and all of his coworkers now know. He's salaried, so he also got paid.

If this individual is a habitual liar he could be fired from an ethical standpoint. Do you have a code of conduct policy?

Unfortunately you probably can't fire him for being stupid. Depending on the expressed core values of the company you may be able to release him. Lying about an emergency to get out of work is widely considered a terminable offense, and having "honesty and integrity" explicitly listed in a company's core values or employee handbook only strengthens an employer's position to release the employee.

When an employee calls off, that absence is usually logged into a workforce management system (like ADP, Paycom, or Rippling) as sick leave, bereavement, or emergency PTO. If the reason for the absence is a lie, the employee has essentially falsified their time and attendance records. Falsification of records is a major policy violation at almost every company and is standard grounds for dismissal. But since they would not be the one creating the record this might be too much of a stretch for this reason.

When a company explicitly states that "honesty and integrity" are core values, they are establishing the expected standard of conduct. A false emergency breaks that fundamental trust. If an HR department or manager cannot trust an employee's word regarding their whereabouts or ability to work, it becomes very difficult to maintain the employment relationship.

If the company can prove that the emergency was fabricated (e.g., the employee posted pictures of themselves at a concert or local attraction on social media while supposedly dealing with a family crisis), the termination would likely be classified as "for cause."

The Consequence: Being fired for cause—specifically for dishonesty or misconduct—often disqualifies the former employee from collecting unemployment benefits.

OK, I’m not sure what about our workplace comes off as toxic here. We didn’t fire him, but we did write him up. If layoffs happen next quarter it’s not looking good for him. What bugged me more was the fact that he posted on his social media account pictures of him drinking and bragging about playing hooky when he knew most of his coworkers could see that. He could’ve at least made the post more private. I know people playing hooky isn’t revolutionary. It’s the social media posting and stupidity that came from a 38-year-old.

You can count this against his attendance record as an unexcused absence. Anyone that stupid will hang himself eventually,

it’s fair game

I would not jump straight to firing. I would investigate first and address the behaviour proportionately.

I have fired people for far less

I would definitely conduct a meeting with the employee and member of his management to discuss the issue. I am so glad we didn't have social media when I was younger. So many employees find themselves in a bind with social media posts these days.

It is a breach of trust - this can be a reason to terminate, but also if he is young and doesn't really get it, he should maybe be given a warning?

He is not someone that you can trust, and it certainly was not an emergency.

He didn’t even need to give a reason why he was taking time off. It’s his PTO so the fact you’re questioning if he should be fired for this is crazy!