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The dangers of Facebook in the workplace

Published on September 13, 2007 by Donna Seale

A recent article in the Winnipeg Free Press discusses how social networking sites like Facebook (ditto for MySpace and YouTube) can cause upheaval in the workplace if employees aren't careful.  In the case of the employees at the heart of this article, the negative comments they made about their supervisor on Facebook were discovered and they ended up facing disciplinary action for making such comments.  As pointed out in the article, employees must be aware of the fact that whether they are posting entries on these types of sites at the office or on their own time, if those entries harm their employer's reputation or cause a poisoning of the workplace, the employer has the legal right to mete out appropriate discipline.

From a human rights perspective, employers and employees need to be aware of the potential dangers of postings on websites or weblogs relating to their workplaces.  Employees need to understand that discriminatory or harassing blog or web entries that they make regarding co-workers may well be considered in the same vein as if they actually made those comments verbally in the workplace.  The big difference is that unlike with verbal comments which you could later deny you ever said (subject to someone having overheard you, of course), web entries can be located and linked back to you making it just a tad harder to deny you had any part in the creation of the comments.  There's also the issue of distribution.  Once your comments are out in cyberspace, you never know where they are going to end up and who is going to end up reading them.  Case in point, the situation noted in the Free Press.  Employers need to understand that just as they can be found vicariously liable for failing to take reasonable steps to stop harassing verbal comments in the workplace, so too they can potentially be found liable for failing to put a stop to similar types of comments that are occuring on sites like Facebook if they knew or ought to have known they were being made. 

So, how can employers best protect themselves in these kinds of situations?  A three-fold approach is key:

1. a workplace policy addressing the appropriate use of technology such as the internet, including blogging, text messaging, etc., should be put in place;
2. employees should be thoroughly educated on the policy and the potential ramifications for violating it;
3. employers should be vigilant about enforcing the policy.

Related posts:

1. Using social networking sites in the hiring process: smart move or human rights trap? – Part One
2. Workplace harassment: the impact of the Manitoba Workplace, Safety & Health Regulation

Categories: Harassment

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