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Social Media – Employment IssuesThursday 20 October 2011
Louise Connacher
Director & Head of Employment
© Lupton Fawcett LLP 2011. Extracts may be copied provided that their source is quoted.
What are the issues for employers?
• Recruitment
• Time wasting
• Bullying and harassment
• Discrimination
• Human rights
• Reputational damage
• Disclosure of confidential information
• Breach of copyright
• Policies
• Conclusion
Recruitment
• Checking up on candidates
– Linked-In
– Blogs
• Discrimination
Time wasting
• Fall in productivity
• Monitoring usage
– clear policy
– Investigations
• Options
– ban usage?
– restrict usage?
– policies
Bullying, harassment & discrimination
• Cyber bullying
• Social exclusion
• “Victimless” bullying
• Regularly update bullying policies
Human rights?
• More relevant to public authorities
• But – ET’s obligations
• Has privacy been waived?
• Inform employees of monitoring that will be undertaken
Reputational damage
• Comments posted on Facebook, Twitter, Blogs
• Comments sent by e-mail or in-mail
• Simply a different method of publication?
Confidential information
• Posted on Facebook, LinkedIn, personal website
• Use of restrictive covenants
• Policies – is LinkedIn encouraged at work?
Breach of copyright
• Photos, documents, videos posted on social networking sites
• Breach of employer’s copyright
• Breach of third party’s copyright
• Ensure appropriate rules/guidance in place
Policies
• What should a social media policy cover?
– rules about accessing social media
– information about monitoring
– home/work boundaries
– requirement to insert disclaimers – views expressed are not those of the employer
– network security
– use of social media for business reasons
– link to disciplinary procedures
• Amendment to other policies
Conclusion
• Currently very little case law
• Importance of policies
• Evidential difficulties
• Don’t let the technology get in the way!
Any Questions?
Louise ConnacherDirector & Head of EmploymentLupton Fawcett LLPYorkshire House, East Parade, Leeds, LS1 5BD
Email: [email protected]: 0113 280 2108Fax: 0113 280 2163
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/louiseconnacher
@LouiseConnacher
