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 |
WhenDinosaursRoamed
theSocialMediaAge
HARASSMENTANDHUMANRIGHTS
CASESINTHENEWWORKPLACE
AndrewPintoandRobertTarantino*
AINTRODUCTION
SocialmediahasbecomeahotissueintodaysworkplacesItisalsopro-
vidingnewspacesandtoolsthroughwhichworkplacediscrimination
and harassment may operateW hile the fundamenta l legal principles
concerninghumanrightsremainrelativelyunchangedthelawisgrap-
plingwithnovelcaseswheresocialmediaisinvolvedThisarticlewill
lookattheintersectionofsocialmediaandhumanrightsandharass-
mentcasesintheworkplaceWhiletheopportunitiesforbreachofthe
Ontar io HumanRightsCode and other related legislation are now greater
duetosocialmediatheabilitytoproveordisprovehumanrightsand
harassmentallegationsaswellaseducatetheworkforceabouthuman
rightsanddiversitynormsisalsogreaterEmployersthathavenotyet
appreciatedtherisksandrewardspresentedbysocialmediadosoat
theirconsiderableperilLetushopethatthedinosaursthatcontinue
toroamourworkplacesbecomerapidlyextinctinthisnewsocialmedia
age
BothofPintoWrayJamesLLPAndrewPintoisapartnerInadditiontohislitiga-
tionpracticeheisanadjunctprofessorattheFacultyofLawUniversityofToronto
aworkplaceinvestigatorandamediacommentatorRobertTarantinoisanassoci-
ateHepractisesintheareasofemploymentandlabourlawhumanrightscivil
litigationandadministrativelaw
APRT
Thisarticlewilladdresssocialmediaintheworkplacebycritically
reviewingrelevantandrecentdecisionsregardingdiscriminationand
harassmentinthefollowingareasapplicationsalsoknownascom-
plaintsbeforehumanrightstribunalslabourgrievancesandarbi-
trationpersonalharassmentcasesunderamendmentstoOntarios
OccupationalHealthandSafetyActBillandhumanrightsallega-
tionsappendedtocivilclaimsbeforetheOntarioSuperiorCourtofJus-
ticeThroughoutthisreviewwewillhighlightrelatedissuessuchasthe
useofsocialmediaasevidenceandtheusualconcernsaroundreliabil-
ityandrelevanceInadditionwewillcommentontherolethatinter-
nalcompanypoliciesplayandtheneedforbusinessestodevelopsocial
mediapoliciesandincorporateexplicitlanguagearounduseofsocial
mediainantidiscriminationandantiharassmentworkplacepolicies
FinallywewillstressthatsocialmedianeednotbefearedWehope
todemystifysocialmediaandsuggestwaysforasensibleapproachto-
wardaddressingsocialmediaissuesintheworkplaceSocialmediaif
deployedcorrectlycanbeagreatnewtoolandresourcetohelpcompan-
iesthrivewhilemaintainingacultureofrespectintheworkplace
B W H A TI S S OC I A L M ED I A
Naturallyadenitionofsocialmediacanbefoundonthesocialmedia
websiteWikipediaSocialmediaincludeswebbasedandmobiletech-
nologies used to turn com munication into interac tive dia logueSo-
cialmediaisabroadtermusedtodescribewebbasedprogramsand
applications that link people together and allow users to generate their
owncontentSocialmediaalsodescribesphysicaldevicesonwhich
these programs and applications may be used such as smar tphones
tabletcomputerslaptopsandtraditionaldesktopcomputersSocial
mediaisboththeiPhoneBlackBerryorothersmartphonedeviceas
wellastheapplicationssuchasFacebookandTwieronthatdevice
Examplesof soc ial media are social net working websitessuch as
FacebookLinkedInandGooglebloggingwebsitessuchasBlogger
WordPressand Tumblr microblogging sites such as Twiermusic
basedwebsiteslikeMySpacevideouploadingplatformslikeYouTube
photouploadingprogramssuchasFlickrenterpriseandinternalbusi-
ness platforms like Yammercollab orativecontent applications called
wikiswithWikipediabeingthemostfamousandeventhenowold
fashionedemailWhattheseallhaveincommonisadynamicabilityto
SeeonlinehpenwikipediaorgwikiSocialmedia
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