Actions that may result in legal action against an employer (part 1)

Blogging

It has become increasingly popular for employers to create and implement policies aimed at controlling blogging activity generated by their employees. Negative comments or even a diary of continued criticism of a company can severely impact on brand image and subsequent recruitment and client perception. Employees have frequently been dismissed on the back of critical material posted on their blogs in recent years however this has not stopped the upward spiral of new employee blogs and every employer must be increasingly vigilant.

Social Networking Sites

The sudden, massive increase in usage of Twitter and Facebook in the past 5 years has led to big changes in the behaviour of employees. The public and private divide is not so clear these days and employees regularly vent their workplace frustrations believing that only friends and family are watching. Social networking news feeds and statuses can quickly damage an organisation's reputation within a global network, and offer an outlet for pictures as well as written content.

Obscenity

Obscene material is defined as material that is "likely to deprave and corrupt". If this material is published it may constitute a criminal offence under the Obscene Publications Act. Negative publicity from an employee tribunal would have lasting consequences.

Written by Wytech