News & Events
Are we facing a legal timebomb?
Updated 21st July 2009
By Angela Protheroe, Employment Associate with Harding Evans Solicitors.
Social networking sites are quickly cementing their place in the nation's collective 'favourites' folder and employers cannot ignore the fact that most people now aware of, or are using sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
Web traffic to social networks overtook retail websites in the UK for the first time in January 2009, with traffic to Twitter alone increasing by 974 percent since last year.
Blogs, microblogs and social networks have transformed business communications, allowing organisations to share news, recruit staff and engage with customers as well as offering cost effective opportunities to reach new audiences and markets. But there are potential legal threats to consider, and it is important to balance the legal risks against the many great opportunities provided by these online tools.
With staff able to post unsanctioned comment on the internet, control over company reputation and data protection is tougher than ever.
Companies may be liable for the actions of staff using the internet if it is reasonable to assume employees are acting with their employer's authority or if actions can be linked to the employer.
"Blogs, microblogs and social networks have transformed business communications, allowing organisations to share news, recruit staff and engage with customers as well as offering cost effective opportunities to reach new audiences and markets."
Virgin Atlantic and Domino's Pizza are just two brands recently forced to act over comments made by some of its staff on social networks - both incidents resulting in immeasurable negative publicity for brands that depend on their customer's trust.
Luckily it is possible to put control measures in place both to prevent such activity occurring in the first place and to minimise the impact of any such incident.
Employment contracts can require that staff comply with a written policy restricting certain public comment by the employees. By identifying certain activities as gross misconduct, employers can reduce their exposure to unfair dismissal claims in the rare event that an employee's online behaviour required serious disciplinary action.
Alternatively, employers may wish to consider blocking access to such sites from work computers, although blanket bans may lead to ill feeling and aren't always effective.
While many employers see social networking sites as somewhat of a nuisance, their marketing and networking benefits to employees and to organisations are undeniable.
Strictly enforced reasonable policies on internet use are the way ahead. With millions already registered on sites like Twitter and Facebook, it is in every employer's interest to tackle the issues sooner, rather than face the potential fallout later.