Does Privacy still exist?
Social Media and the workplace
With today’s society always connected through social media is some way shape or form, does the average person still have any privacy? When you consider that most people are on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter as well as various other platforms throughout the day and are posting, sharing and generally living their lives via social media, is it any wonder that Employers are now turning their attentions to Social Media and the ramifications it can have on a business.
Most companies have either implemented or are developing comprehensive social media policies, these are used to outline what the company expects from its employees with regards to their interactions on social media both on behalf of the company and on their own personal pages. The policies also explain the types of behaviour and interactions that can result in disciplinary actions being taken by the company, whether or not the incident happened on the employee’s own time or not.
Recent legal actions taken by both employers and employees have led to some surprising results. An example of these actions are found in this case;
Early in 2013, the Fair Work Commission threw out an unfair dismissal claim filed by an interior designer who was sacked for breaching the terms of his employment contract.
Bradford Pedley had sent a group email to his LinkedIn connections to promote a part time design service he was running outside of his full-time work. His employer got wind of the email from a shared contact and Mr Pedley was summarily dismissed.
Despite Mr Pedley’s argument that the dismissal was unreasonable, the Commission held that Mr Pedley was in clear breach of his fundamental obligations as an employee. 1
However it is not only the employee that can cause issues within an organisation, the content posted to a company’s social media page by third parties can also have serious ramifications, as described in this case study;
In 2011, Allergy Pathway was held liable for misleading testimonials that were posted on its Facebook page by users of the company’s products. The Court found that the company and its director had ‘published’ the testimonials posted on Facebook, even though the company did not write or post the testimonials.
Allergy Pathway’s liability for the publication was established because it knew of the testimonials; and the company and its director were able to remove the testimonials but did not do so. 2
So I guess the question is with all of us connected to social media do we still have any privacy or has all the technology that we immerse ourselves in meant that realistically privacy is a thing of the past? Has current legislation gone too far, should there still be some form of separation between work and your private life? Are you happy to sacrifice your privacy to always be connected?
1,2 – Reference from the Portner Press, Health and Safety Handbook, Health and Safety Bulletin – November & December 2013.