Cause for Termination in the Age of Social Media

AuthorJonathan Maier
Pages281-304

CauseforTermination
intheAgeofSocialMedia
Jonathan Maier*
AINTRODUCTION
Debatesanddiatribesamongemployeesregardingtheirworkingcon-
ditions supervisors and colleagues long predate the advent of social
medianetworksAtonetimesuchmaerswereaddressedonlythrough
facetofacediscussionsbothinsideandoutsidetheworkplaceAstech-
nologychangedthesecommunicationseventuallyfoundtheirwayinto
electronicformthroughemailandtextmessagesMorerecentlyastech-
nologyhascontinuedtoevolveonlineblogsandsocialmediawebsites
suchasFacebookandTwierhaveprovidedmoreadvancedandexpan-
siveforumsfortheseactivitiesSocialmediatoolshaveenabledemploy-
eestocommunicatebothintentionallyandunintentionallywithalarger
audienceatanytimefromanywhereintheworldmerelythroughac-
cesstoacomputer
This paper will explore several issues related to circumstances
whereanemployeesbehaviouronsocialmediaoutletscansupporthis
orherdismissalforcauseItwillfocusprimarilyoncaseswhereanem-
ployeesonlinebehaviouroccurswhenheorsheisoduty
This paper will not address circ umstances where an employee is ter-
minatedduetoexcessiveuseofsocialmediatoolsduringtimeswhen
theemployeeisexpectedtoworkPutsimplyitisdiculttoseewhythe
 JonathanMaierisanassociateatHicksMorleyHamiltonStewartStorieLLP
Torontowithalegalpracticethatencompasseslabourandemploymentlaw
JM
summarydismissalofanemployeewhowastestoomuchtimeonhisor
herFacebookaccountshouldbetreatedanydierentlythanamoretrad-
itional situation where an employee wastes too much working time on
moretraditionalleisurelypursuitsEmploymentlawprinciplesconcern-
ingtimewastingandtheinappropriateuseofworktimedonotneed
signicantmodicationsimplybecauseemployeeshavebeenpresented
withanewwaytodistractthemselvesfromcompletingtheirwork
Usingwellestablishedemploymentlawprinciplesemployershave
beenabletouseanemployeesodutycommentsorconducttosupport
anemployeesdismissalforcauseprovidedthatthebehaviouratissue
wassucientlydamagingtotheemployersreputationThisapproach
is still used in a n era where many employees access social media outlets
dailyNeverthelessinthisnewdigitalagetheestablishedprincipleson
how an employer responds to injurious social media content created or
disseminatedbyitsemployeesshouldbereviewedandrened
Thisproposedreviewandrenementisnecessaryfortwospecic
reasons First employee communications that are made using social
media tools are qualitatively dierent from communications t hat are
madeusingmoretraditionalmodesBlogpostsFacebookcommentsand
Twierstatusupdatesthatunfairlydisparageormalignanemployers
businessworkforceorstandinginthecommunitycanbefarmoredam-
agingthanthosethataremadeusingoldermeansofcommunication
Second labour arbitrators and other administrative adjudicators have
beguntoaddressissuesinvolvingtheterminationofemployeesforso-
cialmediamisdeedsusingananalyticalframeworkthatisbroaderthan
thetraditionalemploymentlawframeworkThetraditionalemployment
lawframeworkhasoftenfocusedontheconsequencesthatmaybefall
anemployersreputationIncontrasttheapproachusedbylabourarbi-
tratorsallowsforanexaminationofmoretypesofharmincludingthe
harmsueredbyotherpartiesintheworkplacerelationshipThereisno
reasonwhythisbroaderanalyticalframeworkshouldbeconnedtothe
unionizedworkplaceoraparticularstatutoryadjudicativeregimeThe
potentialexpansionofthisframeworkwithintheeldofemployment
lawmeritscloserexamination
This paper is divided into three ma in parts The rst part of the
paper will provide a brief review of the traditional employment law
principlesthatapplywhenanemployeeisterminatedforcausebecause
ofodutyconductItwillthenexplainwhyemployeecommunications
madeusingsocialmediatoolsarequalitativelydierentfromcommuni-
cations made using more traditional methods Finally the paper will
provideamoredetailedexaminationoftheanalyticalframeworkthat

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