Social status

With the ever-increasing use of social media by individuals to publish all manner of information about their lives, the chances of an employee’s social media presence interacting with their work is increasing. Some employers encourage the use of social media by employees. However, whether such use is encouraged, permitted or even prohibited, issues arise that affect both employers and employees.

When disciplining or dismissing employees as a result of postings on social media forums, the usual rules and procedures apply. However, there are a number of additional questions that employers face, in particular:

• the extent to which an employer can rely on “private” communications that appear on social media websites; and
• the extent to which employers can monitor and investigate such communications, and when it will be appropriate and fair to take disciplinary action on the basis of them.

We set out below how these questions have been considered