Social media is the use of online networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. The growing use of social media is changing the dynamics of the employer-employee relationship at all stages from recruitment through to dismissal. Accordingly, the subject of social media and employer relations is very much in the spotlight meaning employment disputes involving social media are receiving a lot of media attention. This means that employers are having to tread carefully for fear of being exposed for taking harsh actions.

The traditional headache for employers was whether or not they should allow employees to use social media at work and this resulted in company’s introducing paragraphs in internet or computer usage policies outlining the rules, however the issues are much deeper now.

Now employers are concerned with issues like:

• What action can I take against an employee for having their CV online (i.e. through LinkedIn)?
• What action can I take against an employee for making comments about the company online?
• What action can I take against an employee for their Facebook status or Tweets?

 Recruitment

While there is no area of employment law which prevents the use of social media to recruit, the use of social media in recruitment has led to concerns about discrimination. By looking at candidate information online, recruiters are able to find out information about candidates such as their age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, marital status, religion etc. This is information that may not have been available to recruiters through traditional recruitment methods (sifting through CVs and so on). If there is any evidence to show that an prospective employee was refused a place due to any of this information then they will be entitled to bring a claim against the prospective employer.

On the question of employees that have their CVs online, an employer can take no action in this regard as employees are free to seek employment, although this should be done in their own time.

Disciplinary

The biggest impact social media has had on employment law is with disciplinary action and dismissal. There are two areas where social media has resulted in disciplinary action:

The first area is due to employees posting online about work related matters, such as a Facebook status about faking an illness or procrastinating. Of course, this is not about social media itself but more about evidence being obtained through social media.

The second area is employees making negative comments about their employer or expressing views online which companies do not want to associate themselves with.

On the whole it is believed that employers are entitled to take action against their employees for comments online, particularly when they are defamatory. But for the avoidance of doubt lawyers advise employers to have a social media policy which governs employee’s uses of social media. Although it is worth noting that some posts by employees may be protected if they amount to “protected disclosure” under whistle blowing regulations.

Conclusions

Social media and employment law is really at its infancy and as with many things these days it is subject to constant change. The best way for an employer to protect itself and its employees is to have a clear social media policy in place, which is updated regularly and is drawn up in consultation with employees.

This is very important because in the event of a dispute or a claim for unfair dismissal being made against an employer an employment tribunal will look at a company’s social media policy to determine if it is fair and reasonable, if it has been well communicated to employees and if the company’s disciplinary procedure has been correctly followed.

The key clauses of a well drafted social media policy should cover matters like: employee’s responsibilities, security, restrictions, permitted use, rules on what can and cannot be said or posted online, disciplinary procedure, rules on bullying and harassment and then revert this back to the relevant legislation such as the Employment Act 2002 and the Data Protection Act 1998.

If you are an employer or an employee and require further advice on social media and employment law then you should contact the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS).

Sex discrimination can be either direct or indirect, victimisation or harassment. It may still be actionable even if it is not deliberate. In particular, positive discrimination is not allowed, for instance where an employer recruits one gender instead of the other.

Less favourable treatment

Sex discrimination which is direct involves an individual being treated less favourably due to their sex in comparison of the treatment of an individual who has the other gender, in similar circumstances. In order to prove this, it is useful to give an example of an individual of the opposite sex who in a similar situation would have been treated more favourably. An example of direct sex discrimination is sexist abuse.

Indirect sex discrimination

Indirect sex discrimination is to have rules or policies in place which an individual of a particular sex is less likely to be able to meet and thus disadvantaging them. If a complaint about sex discrimination is made, victimisation may occur where an individual is treated unfairly due to the complaint which was made.  This complaint includes taking legal action or simply standing up for rights.

Any employer who discriminates due to the sex of their employees is acting unlawfully. Males and females who are under similar employment hold the rights to be paid an equal about for same-value work. If they are being discriminated because of their sex then this constitutes an unlawful action. This includes all employers, irrelevant of the amount which is employed. Special rules exist for women who are pregnant or on maternity leave.

Equality legislation (the Equality Act) governs unlawful sex discrimination and states that it is unlawful for any employer act in a discriminatory manner towards their employee on the grounds of their sex.  The Equal Pay Act 1970 governs the right to be treated equally in terms of pay in relation to individuals of the opposite sex.

Sex discrimination covers all workers and UK institutions, ranging from training, recruitment, benefits/pay, dismissal/redundancy, employment terms and conditions and transfer/promotion opportunities.

When males and females share a common employer and are either doing same/similar-value work which has been giving a rating as equivalent in study concerning job evaluation conducted by their employer, they should receive equal terms in their contract of employment.

However, there is an exception where a genuine factor exists which is explained by the employer and justifies the discrimination.

In addition, in certain circumstances there may be an exception for positive action, not to be confused with positive discrimination above. This is when an employer is able to encourage or offer support to either men or women. Positive action is used to compensate for the sex which is under represented in the particular profession, giving special encouragement to that particular gender. This does not constitute discrimination.

Occupational requirements allow discrimination

Another exception to sex discrimination is the occupational requirement. This is when an employer is able to show that they need a particular sex to do a specific job, thus they are able to employ an individual of that sex. In the situation where there is a male and female candidate of equal qualifications, a presumption arises that the individual of the underrepresented sex will be employed; however this can be rebutted by the member of the represented sex pointing out overriding characteristics over the other individual.

This post courtesy of David Winston of Waring employment solicitors in London. If you are an employer or employee needing further specific advice on sex discrimination law, get in touch with David.

POTENTIALLY FAIR REASONS FOR DISMISSAL

Section 94(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 sets out five main potentially fair reasons for dismissal. These are:

• Reasons associated with the employee’s conduct or misbehaviour;
• Reasons related to skills, capability or relevant qualifications necessary to perform the kind of work for which the employee is employed;
• Genuine redundancy (i.e. reduction in the overall workforce);
• Other reasons for which an employee could be legally prevented from doing his job (i.e. a driver losing his driving licence).

There is also more broad ‘some other substantial reasons’ category that covers virtually all other fair substantial reasons that could serve as justification for dismissal.

COMPENSATION

From 1 February 2012 the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2011 SI 2011/3006 increased the maximum compensation level to £85,200.00.

WHO CANNOT CLAIM?

• Self-employed and independent contractors;
• Members of the armed forces;
• Those who have resolved their dispute with the employer through ACAS or waived their rights under a compromise agreement;
• Employees subject to dismissal procedure agreement.

For a full list you can visit the Business Link website.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DECISION IN RAVAT V HALLIBURTON MANUFACTURING AND SERVICES LTD

The ultimate geographical scope of the Employment Rights Act 1996 has been subject to an extensive legal discussion for a long time. The judgment in Ravat v Halliburton provides useful judicial precedence and guidance for the fourth category of unfair dismissal claims set in the case of Serco Limited v Lawson. In Serco the House of Lords have decided that individuals can bring unfair dismissal claims if:

1. They are ordinarily working in Great Britain at the time of dismissal. Importantly, it is the physical location where the employee works for most of the time that matters rather than contractually stipulated place of work.
2. They are itinerant workers who work from place to place including abroad for extended periods of time but who can reasonably be said to have their permanent base in Great Britain at the time of their dismissal.
3. They are expatriate workers who work permanently abroad but whose work benefits business primarily based and carried in Great Britain (this category could for instance include journalists working abroad for British media).
4. They are employees who do not fall within any of the above categories but who can demonstrate their correspondingly strong connections with Great Britain.

In this case of Ravat it was designed that the courts will look at practical rather than technical aspects of one’s employment in determining whether sufficient strong connection with Great Britain exists. Although, Mr Ravat was based in Libya and his work benefited German subsidiary of the same group that the UK and US company, his taxation and employment affairs were managed in the UK and his connection with the UK was far superior than that with any other of the relevant countries (i.e. Libya and Germany). Therefore, it was decided that he could bring an unfair dismissal case in the UK.

The case is a useful hint for lawyers that rules set out in the case of Serco are not strict principles but serve as a flexible test that is to be applied in view of particular circumstances. All employers who want to base their employees permanently abroad should bear in mind this ratio and take appropriate legal advice to avoid possible unfair dismissal claims.

You can access the official Supreme Court judgment here.

Instances of race discrimination in the workplace may include:

• Abusive behaviour or name calling because of an individual’s race or colour

• Refusing to give an employee a promotion because of their race or colour

• Refusing to employ an individual based on their race or colour

• Refusing to employ an individual based on the grounds that they believe their customers wouldn’t want to be served by the individual due to their race or colour

This is known as direct race discrimination however, there are several forms of race discrimination which are equally as unlawful including indirect race discrimination, race victimisation and racial harassment, all of which can have race discrimination claims brought against them.

Indirect Discrimination

Indirect race discrimination is quite a grey area and is where a certain criteria or practice of a company puts a particular racial group at a disadvantage but, in order for a claim to be made against indirect race discrimination it has to be proved that the company’s practice or criteria is in fact unjustified.

An example of indirect race discrimination could be a particular company policy which states that all employees should be clean shaven. This policy immediately puts Sikhs at a disadvantage as they consider their beards to be part of the nobility of manhood, thus keeping them long and untrimmed.

If the employer can show that their practice or policy has not been set on the grounds of race and can be justified on other grounds then the discrimination is not unlawful but, if the practice cannot be justified on any other grounds and is purely race motivated it will be deemed unlawful and the individual who experienced the discrimination can make a claim.

Race Victimisation

In a nutshell, race victimisation is the victimisation of an employee because they have made or are participating in a claim against the employer for racial discrimination or have put in a complaint regarding race discrimination to their supervisor.

Race victimisation can occur when:

• The individual involved in the case is subjected to detrimental treatment such as demotion because of their involvement

• The individual involved in the case is unfairly dismissed because of their involvement

Harassment

Racial harassment can include conduct where a hostile, intimidating, humiliating, offensive or degrading environment is created around an individual because of his/her race. Racial harassment is only unlawful when it is in relation to an individual’s national or ethnic origins or race and, strangely enough, is not seen as unlawful when it is in relation to an individual’s colour or nationality.

Recent cases of Race Discrimination

In 2010 Mr. P decided to make a claim against his employer for sex and race discrimination and unfair dismissal. Mr. P was made redundant due to company restructuring, however, Mr. P claimed that women of a certain nationality within the company were given preference in relation to the positions available in the company’s re-structure, many of which secured those positions before even being interviewed.

Mr. P also claimed that the senior manager in charge of the re-structuring ensured that all her close friends and colleagues were given very favourable positions.

Mr. P’s claim was successful and he was offered a very substantial compensation package on the understanding that he would enter into a compromise agreement.

Miss. T suffered from racial abuse from her employer whilst working in the construction industry. Miss. T subsequently reported the abuse to her seniors but no further action was taken against her employer despite the company making a finding that the racial abuse had indeed occurred.

Miss. T was then put on a performance review by her employer and selected for redundancy.

She decided to put in a claim for both race discrimination and unfair dismissal and, as a result, the company in question settled the claim at the level requested by Miss. T.

If an employee decides to blow the whistle on an organisation, they should be protected and the employer should not be allowed to victimise the employee. The basis behind the protection of whistle blowers is not to discourage people from speaking out against wrongdoings they may see if the workplace.

If an employee is dismissed or suffers detriment due to blowing the whistle, they will be entitled to make a claim at the Employment Tribunal.

An employee will be protected from dismissal, after whistle blowing if they are defined as a ‘worker’, believe that malpractice is happening in the workplace, has happened or will happen, are making a ‘qualified disclosure’ or making a ‘protected disclosure’.

In order for the whistle blower legislation to take effect in relation to an employee, they must make a disclosure which falls within one of the following categories:

• Criminal offences;
• Damage to the environment;
• Threats to an individual’s health and safety;
• Failure to comply with a legal obligation;
• Miscarriages of justice; or
• A deliberate attempt to cover up any of the above.

An exception to the protection of the employee would be if the whistle blower breaks the law themselves in the process of making the disclosure or if the information being disclosed is subject of legal professional privilege. The protection will extend even if the employee is blowing the whistle on malpractice that happened overseas.

For the disclosure to be protected by the relevant legislation, the employee should ensure that the disclosure is made to the right person and in the right way. They must ensure that the disclosure is being made in good faith, must reasonably believe that the information is substantially true, and reasonably believe that they are making the disclosure to the right ‘prescribed person’.

A prescribed person can be the employer, the person responsible for the employee’s area of concern or if the employee doesn’t feel that they are able to talk to them, other prescribed persons should be consulted. An example of this would be to talk to a health and safety representatives if the employee’s concern relates to health and safety.

If an employee is dismissed from their job arising from their act of whistleblowing they are able to make a claim for unfair dismissal at the Employment Tribunal even if they are yet to serve the statutory one year period of employment. An employee may also be able to make a claim for detrimental treatment at the Employment Tribunal if they have been victimised. An individual who is not an employee who has had their contract terminated will be able to take their case to the Employment Tribunal on the grounds of detrimental treatment.

Jonathan Green of Darlingtons Solicitors

This post courtesy of Jonathan Green of Darlingtons employment solicitors. If you have any kind of employment law issue, get in touch with Jonathan or Ben Jones.

There are a number of different share option schemes and it is important to ensure that the most appropriate share option scheme is selected for your company.

Why do companies use share option schemes?

There are a number of significant commercial benefits that companies can achieve through share options. Some of the most important include:

• introduction of performance based and reward driven business model where better the whole workforce, certain teams or individuals are rewarded based on their performance in relation to certain pre-defined commercial goals such as meeting sales targets.
• in view of the first bullet point, share options could be a good alternative to simple salary increases introducing more competitive and diverse remuneration packages.
• increase staff morale by giving people opportunity to own even a small part of the business.

What other forms of employee incentives are there?

Aside of share options giving the employees a right to buy the shares, there are also gifts of shares. Gift of shares do literally what they mean. Shares provided in the form of a gift are usually held in trust for the benefit of employees in order to minimise applicable taxes.

What specific share schemes are there?

Enterprise Management Incentives

• The EMIs are the most common type of share option schemes used. They are approved by HMRC and enable employers to grant share options to selected individuals without any taxation. Under the EMI schemes, employees are given an option to buy set number of shares in the company. The price is determined at the time of the option being granted. If they decide to exercise their option at the time the option is given they do not have to pay income tax. The tax free amount is currently capped at £120,000.00 but is likely to be increased to £250,000.00. Employers can also benefit by getting corporation tax reliefs for the operational costs of the share option scheme. It is also important that they overall value of shares granted under the EMI should not exceed £3,000,000.00.

Approved Profit Sharing

• Approved Profit Sharing (APS). APS are essentially trusts set up for the benefit of participating employees. The company can deduct from its tax any payments made to the trust. The shares need to remain part of the trust for at least 2 years. If kept for longer than 3 years they also become income tax free.

Save As You Earn Schemes

• This type of scheme operates in the form of 3,5 or 7 years long contract under which a certain fixed sum of anywhere between £5 – £250 is saved. At the end of the contract the company pays out a bonus to the employees free of tax.

Company Share Option Plan

The CSOP is a plan that provides employees with buy option to exercise at a date in future but at the current market value. Share options in the CSOP should not be worth more than £30,000.00. Tax breaks are available after 3 years.

Approved Profit Sharing and Save As You Earn Schemes must legally be opened both to full-time and part-time employees.

For more information on share and security schemes and Capital Gains Tax you can refer to this HMRC helpsheet.

David Swede - head of corporate law at Darlingtons Solicitors

For more advice on this issue speak with Darlingtons corporate department or alternatively our employment law team, whether as an employer or an employee.

What is meant by continuous employment?

Continuous employment is essentially a period of time during which the employee works for. The employment law is using that period to establish what rights individual employees can benefit from.

Different employment rights have different qualifying periods. In each individual case you will have to have a look at specific rights and their qualifying periods and then calculate entitlements looking at the employee’s first day of work with you. Please also remember that in certain cases employees who were transferred to your business following an acquisition or merger will preserve their employment continuity. Also breaks or periods that do not go towards the qualifying period do not necessarily break the accumulated continuity of employment.

What rights do employees enjoy?

Employees can have different rights dependent on their contract employment terms. There are also a number of statutory rights that cannot be excluded by any contract and are common for all employees. In cases where contractual rights are more beneficial they will prevail over the statutory rights.

Pay Rights

The law specifies certain minimum amount of wage that needs to be paid to all entitled workers. The amount of national minimum wage depends on two main factors the type of hours that you work (i.e. unmeasured or salaried hours), your age and employment status (employee or apprentice).

According to the Official Government Website the current national minimum wage rates are as follows:

• £6.08 - the main rate for workers aged 21 and over
• £4.98 – the 18-20 rate
• £3.68 - the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18
• £2.60 – the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship

Employers are also legally obliged to provide you with a written statement of the terms and conditions of your employment within two months of you starting the work. You are also entitled to receive an itemised payslip.

Redundancy Rights

To qualify for most redundancy rights you will need to have continuously worked for the employer for at least two years. Those subject to redundancy are entitled to take paid time off to look for alternative work.

Aside of that, employees have the right to be consulted. The consultation will normally clearly explain to the employees the reasons for redundancy and will allow them to express their views on it. If possible the employers and employees should cooperate to look for alternative ways to redundancy.

If you qualify for statutory redundancy pay, you will also get paid upon you leaving based on:

• How long you have continuously worked for the employer;
• How old you are;
• Rate of your current weekly pay (this amount is also limited to £430).

Discrimination

You have the right not to be discriminated against on the grounds of protected characteristics. The protected characteristics include the following:

• Age
• Disability
• Pregnancy or maternity leave
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity

Discrimination can take various forms and be either direct or indirect. Direct discrimination most commonly occurs where an individual or specific group of individuals are treated clearly worse than the others because of any of the above mentioned characteristics.

Indirect discrimination takes place where an individual or group of individuals are measured against certain criteria that are unnecessarily applied and put them at a disadvantage when compared with others.

Who is classed as a lone worker?

Virtually anyone who works alone is a lone worker. This most commonly includes the following classes of people:

• Self-employed;
• Employees delegated to work away from the headquarters;
• Employees working outside of normal business hours (this most notably would include night porters and security guards);
• Mobile workers (this includes salespeople and driving instructors) who work for the most of the day alone.

Health and Safety Law

The same health and safety apply to lone workers as to the rest of working people. Employers must ensure full compliance with the applicable rules and make all necessary arrangements. Self-employed persons are obliged to comply and protect themselves against any health and safety hazards.

All injuries, diseases and dangerous incidents must be reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995. The RIDDOR obliges the employers, the self-employed and people in control of work premises to report all serious incidents to the relevant local authorities.

What exactly has to be reported?

• Deaths and major injuries
• Over-seven-day injuries
• Dangerous occurrence
• Industrial Diseases

Proper records of all of the above have to be kept for at least 3 years after the date of the most recent incident. Independent professional guidelines recommend to retain the records for 6 years.

For more guidance on RIDDOR please visit the Health and Safety Executive website.

What responsibilities do employers have towards lone workers?

As mentioned above, you must ensure that all health and safety rules are complied with and apply to lone workers in the same way as to other employees. Firstly, you should carry out a health and safety risk survey to identify any areas of potential improvement. Once you have identified the risks and hazards you should implement clear procedures to prevent them and constantly monitor improvements. The Health and Safety Executive website contains a number of example risk assessments to give you an idea as to how to make the workplace safer.

In the specific case of lone workers it is worth considering the following:

• Asking loan workers about their medical conditions and conducting all relevant medical checks regularly to ensure that they are suitable for their roles and can be left alone for extended periods of time.
• Carefully select tasks that you assign to lone workers. Ensure that their work can be performed safely by one person without assistance.
• Consider sending out another employee regularly to check whether the lone worker is safe.
• Ensure that clear emergency procedures are in place and that lone workers are familiarised with them fully aware of how they should act in the event of dangerous situation.
• Ensure that you are compliant with all the relevant laws. Some jobs require more than an individual to do them. For instance, current laws prohibit lone working in high-risk occupations such as diving.
• If some of your employees work from home ensure that there are clear homeworking policies in place. It is difficult to monitor whether or not employees working from home have their breaks and work in a safe environment. Residential premises are generally equipped in less safe equipment than business premises. The very least you can do is to educate the homeworkers.

What is the purpose of voluntary redundancy?

Voluntary redundancy is generally less stressful for the employees as it involves an option to leave rather than compulsion and the feeling of being forced out.

Voluntary redundancy is to certain extent discretionary as companies are allowed to contractually restrict some employees from being able to apply for a voluntary redundancy. Voluntary redundancies typically involve more senior staff members who after serving a company for a number of years have the option of leaving the company with a good pay out. Since more senior members are usually managers and team leaders, the process of voluntary redundancy helps to minimise the impact on less senior staff members’ morale.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of voluntary redundancy?

As mentioned above the most beneficial feature of voluntary redundancy is that it is less damaging and demoralising process than compulsory dismissals, as it helps to identify those who are willing to leave and saves those would otherwise be forced to leave against their wishes.

From company’s point of view, voluntary redundancy could be an expensive option as it will very likely involve higher pay outs than the statutory redundancy payments.

For more information on this topic you can also refer to the Business Link website’s redundancy selection topic.

How does it work in practice?

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, voluntary redundancy is classified as dismissal. Consequently, despite the fact that employees themselves voluntarily resign the applicable employment law rules are exactly the same as for compulsory redundancy. Therefore, to be fully compliant with the employment laws you must ensure that voluntarily resigning employees are given the same rights as if they were going through the compulsory procedure.

Consultations

All those offered the opportunity to apply for a voluntary redundancy should be individually consulted and advised of their redundancy rights. The advice should include the following information:

• how their position would be affected;
• how the redundancy would be implemented;
• the financial incentive offered or lack thereof;
• any other relevant information, such as notice periods.

During the consultations, employees should be allowed to freely ask questions and make comments. This is often less difficult than in the case of those being compulsorily dismissed.

The first £30,000.00 of your redundancy pay package is free from tax.

The Statutory Redundancy Pay

If the company decides not to offer extra financial incentive for voluntary resignations then statutory redundancy pay should be calculated taking into account the employee’s length of service, age and the rate of their pay.

As mentioned above, the statutory redundancy pay depends on your length of service, your age and your weekly pay – up to a limit of £330 (£350 from 1 February 2009).

Minimum redundancy pay entitlements are as follows:

• Half a week’s pay for each complete year of service below the age of 22;
• One week’s pay for each year between 22 and 40; and
• One and a half week’s pay for each year above the age of 41.

For more detailed information on your statutory redundancy entitlements please visit the Official Government website.

Social media usage, risks and rewards are becoming an increasingly important practical and legal consideration for all employers and it is now very important that an employer has a policy on this.

The internet and social media has raised a number of concerns for modern day employers. Whilst many businesses rely on the internet for the day to day running of their business they are concerned about harmful and non-productive internet usage which tends to focus round social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace etc.

Accordingly, firms are increasingly relying on their internet and email policies control what employees use the internet for. The content of internet or social media policies often appear to be common sense, nevertheless it is better for all parties to have it explained in writing as it will prevent a company from liability in relation to the actions of its employees or even actions from their employees.

The key clauses of which are likely to some of the following:

• Introduction – purpose of the social media policy and who it applies to
• Employees responsibilities – including compliance with copyright law and responsibility for anything that is downloaded or stored on the employee’s computer
• Security – informing employees that the employer can and may monitor websites visited by the employee
• Restrictions – notifying employees that some websites are restricted as is the downloading of software to  prevent viruses and to protect the reputation of the company
• Permitted use of the internet, email and telephones, including how much personal usage is permitted (if any) and when (such as on lunch breaks or after work)
• Rules on blogging or tweeting – identifying what information employees can disclose on social media websites. For example, derogatory statements about the employer on a social media site are prohibited. An employee who breaches this rule is likely to face disciplinary action which could include dismissal for breach of mutual trust and confidence (which is an implied term in employment contracts). This clause may also restrict an employee from what they are permitted to say regarding their employment status on websites such as LinkedIn.
• Disciplinary procedure if the internet / social media policy is not adhered to (or a reference to the company’s disciplinary procedure)
• Some note of or reference to the employer’s bullying and harassment policies
• Reference to relevant legislation in this area such as the Employment Act 2002 and the Data Protection Act 1998
• A good social media policy will illustrate these clauses by providing examples of what is permitted and what is not permitted

There is no one social media policy that will suit every company. Some employers are more lenient with regards to social media (usually technology companies) and others are more strict (law firms, government departments etc).

Ultimately, both internet and social media policies are relatively new and no one policy is likely to cover all eventualities. However, with its growing use, it is becoming increasingly important for employers to have a social media policy in place.

Advice and guidance on developing a social media policy is available from the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS).

Ben Jones - Partner & head of employment at Darlingtons Solicitors

Get in touch with me to find out how I can help with getting your business the right social media policy at an affordable cost. I can also help with any aspect of employment law for employers.