Do You Have a Social Media / Networking Policy?
With the popularity of Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and other social media and networking outlets on the Internet, employers are now faced with technology-based legal and employment issues.
For example, in May of 2010, the employment of a North Carolina waitress was terminated after complaining on her Facebook page about a $5.00 tip she received from a couple who sat at their table for three hours. The waitress posted that the customers kept her at work an hour after she was supposed to clock out. The 22-year-old waitress felt slighted after waiting on the couple at the pizza restaurant, and as a result, she posted on her Facebook page referring to them as “cheap” and mentioning the restaurant by name.
Her employer found out about the Facebook posting and a few days thereafter, the waitress was fired on the basis that she violated a company policy banning employees from speaking disparagingly about customers and casting the restaurant in a bad light on a social network.
It is recommended that employers implement and include a social media/social networking policy in its employee handbook to set forth acceptable and prohibited internet conduct by employees during “off hours.” When an employer clearly sets forth the parameters, it can enable employers to terminate or take disciplinary action against an employee who violates the policy.
This pizza employer seemed to do the right thing by having a social networking policy in place. However, one consideration in the “pizza bashing” case that the employer did not take into account was the negative publicity it might receive when the public learned of the waitress’s firing. Despite the fact that the employer may have had a legal right to terminate the employment of the waitress, it failed to consider all of the negative publicity it would suffer when taking such action. Since employers’ actions taken in response to the improper use of social networking sites is a “hot topic” for media outlets, employers run the risk of having a private employee matter to become notoriously public. Employers must weigh the pros and cons of terminating an employee versus taking disciplinary action (e.g., a suspension).
If you would like more information about implementing a social networking/social media policy for your business, please feel free to contact me at cmonti@lavellelaw.com.