Lupton fawcett 'social media' seminar for the cipd 20 october 2011

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Social Media – Employment Issues Thursday 20 October 2011 Louise Connacher Director & Head of Employment © Lupton Fawcett LLP 2011. Extracts may be copied provided that their source is quoted.

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Transcript of Lupton fawcett 'social media' seminar for the cipd 20 october 2011

Page 1: Lupton fawcett 'social media' seminar for the cipd   20 october 2011

Social Media – Employment IssuesThursday 20 October 2011

Louise Connacher

Director & Head of Employment

© Lupton Fawcett LLP 2011. Extracts may be copied provided that their source is quoted.

Page 2: Lupton fawcett 'social media' seminar for the cipd   20 october 2011

What are the issues for employers?

• Recruitment

• Time wasting

• Bullying and harassment

• Discrimination

• Human rights

• Reputational damage

• Disclosure of confidential information

• Breach of copyright

• Policies

• Conclusion

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Recruitment

• Checking up on candidates

– Facebook

– Linked-In

– Twitter

– Blogs

• Discrimination

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Time wasting

• Fall in productivity

• Monitoring usage

– clear policy

– Investigations

• Options

– ban usage?

– restrict usage?

– policies

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Bullying, harassment & discrimination

• Cyber bullying

• Social exclusion

• “Victimless” bullying

• Regularly update bullying policies

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Human rights?

• More relevant to public authorities

• But – ET’s obligations

• Has privacy been waived?

• Inform employees of monitoring that will be undertaken

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Reputational damage

• Comments posted on Facebook, Twitter, Blogs

• Comments sent by e-mail or in-mail

• Simply a different method of publication?

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Confidential information

• Posted on Facebook, LinkedIn, personal website

• Use of restrictive covenants

• Policies – is LinkedIn encouraged at work?

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Breach of copyright

• Photos, documents, videos posted on social networking sites

• Breach of employer’s copyright

• Breach of third party’s copyright

• Ensure appropriate rules/guidance in place

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Policies

• What should a social media policy cover?

– rules about accessing social media

– information about monitoring

– home/work boundaries

– requirement to insert disclaimers – views expressed are not those of the employer

– network security

– use of social media for business reasons

– link to disciplinary procedures

• Amendment to other policies

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Conclusion

• Currently very little case law

• Importance of policies

• Evidential difficulties

• Don’t let the technology get in the way!

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Any Questions?

Louise ConnacherDirector & Head of EmploymentLupton Fawcett LLPYorkshire House, East Parade, Leeds, LS1 5BD

Email: [email protected]: 0113 280 2108Fax: 0113 280 2163

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/louiseconnacher

@LouiseConnacher