Employment Law Explained

Tag Archives: social media policy

Employer was Justified in Sacking Employee for Comments on Facebook

Posted on 18/05/2011 by Michael Scutt • 2 Comments

Employers often wonder what steps they can take to discipline an employee who misuses social media, especially where the employee claims that the employer was not identified. Liverpool ET dismissed a claim by a Bar Manager recently where her status updates on Facebook were used to dismiss her for gross misconduct.

In Preece v J D Wetherspoons PLC , the Claimant had had to eject two customers (“Brian” and “Sandra”) who were both, as it seems, elderly.  They had been disruptive. A while later the Claimant received three abusive telephone calls from Brian and Sandra’s daughter in short succession.

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Filed Under: social media, unfair dismissal

Can You Slag Off Your Boss on Facebook?

Posted on 10/11/2010 by Michael Scutt • 7 Comments

iStock 000013528921XSmall Can You Slag Off Your Boss on Facebook? social media

Have you ever ranted about your boss or a fellow worker using Facebook, or social media?  If yes, what happened?

In the USA an “emergency medical technician” (what’s that, a paramedic?) was fired for slagging off her boss on Facebook.  Yesterday, the New York Times carried a report on the actions of the National Labor Relations Board  (“NRLB”) (a US business-union forum for supervising industrial relations it would seem) which filed a complaint alleging that the employer had breached the National Labor Relations Act which, according to the report, protects workers from being disciplined for discussing working conditions or unionization.

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Filed Under: social media

Social Media in the Workplace

Posted on 16/05/2010 by Michael Scutt • 4 Comments

2 London Guildhall1 Social Media in the Workplace social media

Last Friday I gave a presentation to users of the City Business Library at the Guildhall in London.  The topic was the use of social media in the workplace and the issues it raises for employers. You can view the presentation by clicking here.

There was a useful discussion afterwards and most people had stories to tell of how people at work had misused email, inadvertently or otherwise.  Social media, of course, goes beyond just email and surfing the internet.  Indeed, controlling use of these two is probably the easiest of the challenges facing employers.  IT departments can deny access to dodgy websites and it is easy to tell employees what should and should not be said from the corporate email account (although having said that it is still amazing how many people ignore this).

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Filed Under: social media

Blog Off!

Posted on 12/02/2010 by Michael Scutt • 0 Comments

It’s getting a bit scary.  Recently I wrote about how I predicted that Gordon Turner’s serial-litigants.com search website for tracking down abusers of the ET system would be challenged (and it was, in Parliament). Then I wrote a piece about the need for employers to develop social media policies for use by their staff – and last weekend Vodafone hit the news when one of their employees misused the corporate Twitter account to write homophobic and sexist comments. Then  Manchester United and Manchester City denied having banned their players from using social media.   Finally the BBC tonight reports on a “cyberspace witch hunt” at the world’s formerly favourite airline, BA.  15 cabin crew members are reported to have been suspended for posting inappropriate comments on the Unite website.  Unite retorts that the comments were on its Facebook page (so what?) and accused BA of “intimidation”. Clearly this blog is a happening place.

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Filed Under: Internet Usage

Why Employers need a Social Media Policy

Posted on 26/01/2010 by Michael Scutt • 9 Comments

internetiStock 000009648196XSmall Why Employers need a Social Media Policy practice procedure miscellaneous stuff internet usage

 

Everyone is talking about social media these days and no longer is it confined to the purely social.  Many businesses are using it to promote themselves; good heavens, even lawyers are getting into it.  But use of sites like Facebook, My Space, You Tube and micro-blogging sites like Twitter present multiple challenges to employers. 

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Filed Under: Internet Usage, Miscellaneous Stuff, Practice & Procedure