When Dinosaurs Roamed the Social Media Age: Harassment and Human Rights Cases in the New Workplace

• Author: Andrew Pinto and Robert Tarantino
• Pages: 349-365



WhenDinosaursRoamed

theSocialMediaAge

HARASSMENTANDHUMANRIGHTS

CASESINTHENEWWORKPLACE

AndrewPintoandRobertTarantino*

AINTRODUCTION

SocialmediahasbecomeahotissueintodaysworkplacesItisalsopro-

vidingnewspacesandtoolsthroughwhichworkplacediscrimination

and harassment may operateW hile the fundamenta l legal principles

concerninghumanrightsremainrelativelyunchangedthelawisgrap-

plingwithnovelcaseswheresocialmediaisinvolvedThisarticlewill

lookattheintersectionofsocialmediaandhumanrightsandharass-

mentcasesintheworkplaceWhiletheopportunitiesforbreachofthe

Ontar io HumanRightsCode and other related legislation are now greater

duetosocialmediatheabilitytoproveordisprovehumanrightsand

harassmentallegationsaswellaseducatetheworkforceabouthuman

rightsanddiversitynormsisalsogreaterEmployersthathavenotyet

appreciatedtherisksandrewardspresentedbysocialmediadosoat

theirconsiderableperilLetushopethatthedinosaursthatcontinue

toroamourworkplacesbecomerapidlyextinctinthisnewsocialmedia

age

 BothofPintoWrayJamesLLPAndrewPintoisapartnerInadditiontohislitiga-

tionpracticeheisanadjunctprofessorattheFacultyofLawUniversityofToronto

aworkplaceinvestigatorandamediacommentatorRobertTarantinoisanassoci-

ateHepractisesintheareasofemploymentandlabourlawhumanrightscivil

litigationandadministrativelaw

APRT

Thisarticlewilladdresssocialmediaintheworkplacebycritically

reviewingrelevantandrecentdecisionsregardingdiscriminationand

harassmentinthefollowingareasapplicationsalsoknownascom-

plaintsbeforehumanrightstribunalslabourgrievancesandarbi-

trationpersonalharassmentcasesunderamendmentstoOntarios

OccupationalHealthandSafetyActBillandhumanrightsallega-

tionsappendedtocivilclaimsbeforetheOntarioSuperiorCourtofJus-

ticeThroughoutthisreviewwewillhighlightrelatedissuessuchasthe

useofsocialmediaasevidenceandtheusualconcernsaroundreliabil-

ityandrelevanceInadditionwewillcommentontherolethatinter-

nalcompanypoliciesplayandtheneedforbusinessestodevelopsocial

mediapoliciesandincorporateexplicitlanguagearounduseofsocial

mediainantidiscriminationandantiharassmentworkplacepolicies

FinallywewillstressthatsocialmedianeednotbefearedWehope

todemystifysocialmediaandsuggestwaysforasensibleapproachto-

wardaddressingsocialmediaissuesintheworkplaceSocialmediaif

deployedcorrectlycanbeagreatnewtoolandresourcetohelpcompan-

iesthrivewhilemaintainingacultureofrespectintheworkplace

B W H A TI S S OC I A L M ED I A

Naturallyadenitionofsocialmediacanbefoundonthesocialmedia

websiteWikipediaSocialmediaincludeswebbasedandmobiletech-

nologies used to turn com munication into interac tive dia logueSo-

cialmediaisabroadtermusedtodescribewebbasedprogramsand

applications that link people together and allow users to generate their

owncontentSocialmediaalsodescribesphysicaldevicesonwhich

these programs and applications may be used such as smar tphones

tabletcomputerslaptopsandtraditionaldesktopcomputersSocial

mediaisboththeiPhoneBlackBerryorothersmartphonedeviceas

wellastheapplicationssuchasFacebookandTwieronthatdevice

Examplesof soc ial media are social net working websitessuch as

FacebookLinkedInandGooglebloggingwebsitessuchasBlogger

WordPressand Tumblr microblogging sites such as Twiermusic

basedwebsiteslikeMySpacevideouploadingplatformslikeYouTube

photouploadingprogramssuchasFlickrenterpriseandinternalbusi-

ness platforms like Yammercollab orativecontent applications called

wikiswithWikipediabeingthemostfamousandeventhenowold

fashionedemailWhattheseallhaveincommonisadynamicabilityto

 SeeonlinehpenwikipediaorgwikiSocialmedia