Employment law specialist Ben Doherty of Pinsent Masons, the law
firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, said that many office policies are written
with only email use and website access in mind and need to be
updated.
"It used to be about what people viewed in the office, not what
they did at home," he said. "But anyone can be a publisher now, at
work or at home, and office policies sometimes overlook that.
They're too focused on Web 1.0 sites."
The warning follows news that 18 officers of the Metropolitan
Police were subject to formal discipline proceedings for using
Facebook to brag about car crashes. They were members of a group on
the social networking site called "Look I've had a Polcol". Polcol
is slang for police collision.
The Telegraph has reproduced
photographs from the Facebook group. One shows a uniformed
officer smiling at the camera and giving a thumbs-up next to a
wrecked patrol car. The newspaper claims that the group had more
than 200 members and contained stories about collisions with
pedestrians. The group has since been closed down.
The Met Police told OUT-LAW that 14 officers were given written
warnings and four were given words of advice.
"The behaviour of those individuals clearly fell short of that
high standard expected and were subject to the appropriate action,"
she said. "Clear guidance was circulated to all staff in July 2007
stating that such behaviour leaves officers and staff open to
allegations/complaints of unprofessionalism. The MPS [Metropolitan
Police Service] is clear that the conduct of all staff, whether on
or off duty, must meet a high standard."
A section of the Met Police policy was sent to OUT-LAW. It warns
that MPS personnel "must not use MPS systems to author, transmit or
store documents such as electronic mail (e-mail) messages or
attachments … containing racist, homophobic, sexist, defamatory,
offensive, illegal or otherwise inappropriate material".
Doherty said that policies need not be limited to the use of
office systems. "It's important to make sure that your staff
understand they should conduct themselves appropriately at all
times, not just during office hours and not just on office
systems."
"Policies can make this clear by addressing the use of blogs or
social networking sites out of hours, to help staff understand that
when they post content to the internet that could identify them,
they should do so in a manner that's consistent with their contract
of employment," he said.
Doherty said that if a policy is too prescriptive and focused on
the sites accessed from a work computer, taking action against
errant Facebook users might be more difficult.
"Staff should be aware that if their out-of-work activity causes
potential embarrassment for the employer or detrimentally effects
the employer's reputation then the employer is entitled to take
disciplinary action," he said. "But while employers can always take
action against a member of staff for bringing them into disrepute,
a good policy that's properly communicated to the workforce can
make any disciplinary process far easier, less risky and less
controversial in the workplace."
Doherty said that such policies should identify certain
behaviour as gross misconduct. "That makes it much easier to
dismiss employees who break the rules, substantially lowering the
risk of unfair dismissal claims before tribunals."
"Employees should also be aware that more employers now spend
time monitoring sites such as Facebook for information about their
staff and any comments about the employer. Accordingly it is
becoming more likely that the employer will find out about the
misconduct."
