Percy Hughes & Roberts Solicitors

On the 5^th January 2012 a Tribunal was asked to determine if an employee who resigned due to his Company calling him into disciplinary meetings to discuss his use of Linkedin had been constructively dismissed. The employee had posted his CV on Linkedin and he had ticked a box to advise that he was interested in ‘career opportunities’. The Company claimed this was in breach of their policies and they had instructed him to remove descriptions regarding his job role from Linkedin.

The Employment Tribunal has now adjourned the matter until May this year. This leaves employers and employees in limbo when determining what is acceptable use of Linkedin from an Employment Law point of view.

Within Linkedin people are free to post what they have done in previous roles and they can post details about what they are currently doing in a professional capacity. It would seem unjust for a current employer to prevent them posting information about their current role on a Social Media site if that information is not confidential and it is correct information. It is surely no different to someone sending out speculative letters enclosing their CV which will contain this information?

If the Employment Tribunal was to find that the request of the employer was reasonable then where would that leave employees who are unhappy in their jobs or who want new challenges? Will employers be able to request that they do not provide details in their CV regarding the role they currently perform? 

Employers should provide employees with guidance as to what is considered as acceptable use of Social Media as it becomes a part of our daily life. There is clearly a difficult balancing act for employers as they want their employees to showcase their talents and hopefully generate new business but they also don’t want a rival coming along and poaching their talented staff. It requires mutual trust from both the employer and employee if Social Media is used during work time and using the employer’s equipment but what should be done if the employee uses these sites in their own time and on their own equipment?

The decision of the Employment Tribunal in May will be interesting and hopefully it will give employers some guidance as to what will be enforceable against employees when they are using Social Media in the workplace.

I suspect this is another area which will need ‘a policy’ in the Staff Handbook.