Basically we had a staff member leave as part of messy divorce with the CEO.
This staff member was put in charge of all Facebook business accounts and google accounts, including developer access.
They are refusing to provide the credentials.
Any idea on the process for reclaiming the account?
You mean Ozbargain?
Need popcorn as this is a small issue compared to the passwords for the apps/storage/admin/network config the ex employee still has access to as these will be a bigger issue for the company IMHO and this shows that you do not want to ask the suppliers for help which will leave the company potentially exposed to a bunch of issues.
Isn't that company property? What does the ex-employee's contract say about that?
Could you/the company send a legal letter to hand over all company property?
My understanding is that you can't be expected to give back something that's in your mind (but you can get in trouble if you give it to someone else if it's considered proprietary).
They are refusing, not saying they forgot. Police could get involved here. Bad idea to refuse.
My understanding is that you can't be expected to give back something that's in your mind
IANAL but I've paid for one for something somewhat related in the past. It's not as though they took or destroyed anything. Lack of diligence from the company to keep records I expect would be different from someone maliciously changing the password or destroying records just before they left.
Probably a sh1tty thing to do, but who knows how sh1tty the other party is or what else is involved?
Cops? I wouldn't think so.
lol @ police.
It's a civil matter.
I saw this:
https://townsvillesocialmediamarketing.com/facebook-page-sto…
Scroll down to the part that says…
"I said it wouldn’t be easy…
In my research, I did find two Facebook forms that might be used to provide a resolution, although not ideal:-"
Thanks will try these
Use the forgot password option. It should be linked to a work email address
Oh boy. I'm waiting for OP to come and tell us that it's associated with the ex-employee's personal email address.
I didnt set it up. Its set to her work email. However due to the fact she comingled all her personal stuff into the same account and its a messy divorce we dont really want to go there. Last thing i need is lawyers saying we are spying on her and reading her message history.
Dont get me wrong its a cluster @#$ and i told the boss years ago the account should not be setup like this but unfortunately im on cleanup duty after the facf
It's set to the work email which is company property. Her decision to comingle her personal stuff on a work email account is her problem.
That said, if the company's HR department is Ozbargain I'm not surprised you are having issues.
@imcjb: I don't disagree with this. However Ive been told i can't do this due to the divorce. The frustrating thing is i saw it coming years ago and advised everyone involved it shouldn't be setup this way. But now i got to clean it up
@hikaru78: Are you saying the person in question and the CEO were actually married and are now going through a divorce (i.e. this is not just an employment termination situation)? Oh boy.
@Seraphin7: yup. and its been a mess dropped on my desk to clean up.
Person in question is married to the CEO and they are now getting a divorce.
Business is in downturn since covid
Person is question has been made redundant
Divorce will end up in court.
Redundancy may end up at fair work
The whole thing is less than amicable
Person in question has comingled her personal stuff into all the company accounts, facebook and messenger, google photos. its an absolute #$% fight
@hikaru78: Jesus.
My specific advice is to speak with your HR and Legal people and get them to advise you what to do viz. email accounts.
The general rule is that the email account is owned by the company, so the company can access it for purposes directly relevant to the operation of the business.
You don't want to be in a position where your actions drop either you or the company in the kaka. Take specific advice an act accordingly.
It's all fine in hindsight to recommend 'past' solutions.
Let this be a warning to anyone with their own business. You need to have this stuff covered off so that 'key person risk' is mitigated. At least two people should have access to all passwords etc., and sharing that around amongst multiple people further minimises the risks.
sharing that around amongst multiple people further minimises the risks
…and exacerbates numerous other risks also.
Well looks like your hands are tied, if you did what was required you would open up the company to legal action regarding the redundancy and divorce, on the other hand if you do nothing you may cost the company alot of money.
Get legal advice asap regarding the legal action and potential drawbacks.
Then decide what will cost the company more, the potential legal actions involved or the cost of not having access to your business accounts, google accounts and developer access.
To me it seems quite obvious what needs to be done.
You need IT - to control access. But get legal invovled
The best thing to do is contact Facebook/google support and hope they help you add another login to the company page. Then remove her access.
Contact Facebook?