When Can Your Employer 'Unlike' You?: Just Cause for Dismissal and Social Media

• Author: Denis Ellickson and Meg Atkinson
• Pages: 259-280



WhenCanYourEmployer

UnlikeYou

JUS T C AUSE F ORDI S M ISSA L

ANDSOCIALMEDIA

DenisEllicksonandMegAtkinson*

Withinthe pastdecadesocialmedia hasd rasticallyc hangedthe ways

in whichp eoplerelate Social media allows users toma kestatements

post photosa nds end messages that may be viewed bya w ideaudi-

enceforwardedtoawideraudiencea ndpermanentlyrecordedT here

aresoc ialnetworking sitessuc has Facebookand LinkedIn individual

blogsitesmicrobloggingsiteslikeTwierlesharingsitesl ikeFlickr

comchatsitessuchasGmailchatandMSNMessengersitesthatpermit

commentsfromthepublicandmorepeoplecanconnectandsharein

seeminglyinnite waysMoreoverthei ncreasingus eof mobilehand

helddeviceswithInternetandso cialmediaimplementsallowsusersto

communicateinstantlyandonthespurofthemomentPeoplenowhave

anunprecendentedabil itytocon nectwith oneanothershare informa-

tion and issue public statements about any range of things In many

wayswe are all more connected tha n weeven knowsomet hing that

canbeabig problemforemployeeswhenforexampletheiremployers

unexpectedly views posts on Facebookwhichcou ldcompromise con-

tinuedemployment

Thispaper willexplai nhowposts madebyemployeesoduty be-

comethesubjectofworkplacedisciplineUsingexamplesfromcaselaw

thepaperwi llthen discuss thecontexts inwhich employershavebeen

* DenisEllick sonisapartn eratCaleyWrayandcurrentlyc hairoftheLaboura nd

EmploymentSectionofth eOntarioBarAss ociationMegAtki nsonarticle dat

CaleyWrayandwascalledtotheba rin

DEMA

foundto havejust lyterm inatedor disciplined employeesfor inappro-

priateusagesofsoc ialmediai ncludingpostst hatarei nsubordinateto

managersprejudicialorinjur ioustotheemployersbusinessoperation

orinviolationofworkplacepoliciesThecaselawdealingwithdiscipline

asitconnectstosocialmediaalsorevealsthatdecisionmakerswillcon-

sideranumberofotherfactorssuchast henatureofthe employeesjob

thenumberofpeopleinandoutsidetheworkplacewhodidseeorcould

haveseenthepostthenumberofpostsandmore

Inadditiontos eingoutt hesefactorsth ispaperwil lalso analyze

theextent towhich the social mediaa nddismissalcas elawdeals with

importantemployeerightssuchasfreespeecht herighttoprivacyand

the employees right to a fair consistent workplacein whic h progres-

sivedisciplineandappropriatewarningsareissuedtoemployeesWhile

there is no doubtt hati n the age ofs ocial media employeesmust be

vigilanttopreventi nappropriateinformationfrom reachingt hewrong

peoplethroughsocialmediath ispaperwillarguethatemployersmust

alsobeawareoftheirdutiestoemployeesinusingsocialmediaasatool

for monitoring employeesand controll ing the workplacepart icularly

where such use leads to disciplinary i nterventions The use of social

mediashouldnotderogatef romanemployeesabilitytoleadafreepri-

vateindependentlifeoutsidework

As a preliminar y notemuch of the jur isprudence in the area of

dismissal and social mediacomes from thelabour relations contextas

oppose dtot hecou rtbas edemploy mentc ontext Altho ught herea reob-

viousdierences between thetwo forumsparticularlywith respect to

thedec isionmaker spowerto orderremed iesmany of the workplace

considerationswillbequitesimila r

AOF FDU TYPOST I N G S ONSOC I AL

MEDIASITES

Most of the problematic comments and postings made on social net-

working sites are made by peoplewhen t hey are o dutyGenerally

speaking when employees are o dutythey may carr y on their per-

sonallivesinprivacyandemployersarenotpermiedtoactascustod-

iansoftheiremployeescharacterHowevertherearecirc umstancesin

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