Anybody who is dissatisfied with something can easily share his complaints and frustrations with the world on social networks. That is the current face of freedom of speech. Or is it? Freedom of speech has its limits, because it goes hand in hand with responsibility for the shared content. This applies, for example, to criticising your employer, which could result in being given notice or immediate termination of employment. This topic was recently covered by Vojtěch Blažek from the Czech law firm Bělina & Partners in an interesting article on epravo.cz.
"If an employee publicly defames his employer on a social network, the limits of freedom of speech have to be seen from a different perspective than if the employee criticizes e.g. his neighbor. The reason for such a differentiation lies in the special obligations of employees towards their employer arising from employment relationship," says Vojtěch Blažek with references to the practice of the Czech Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
Freedom of speech vs. protection of reputation
According to the Czech Labour Code, employees are obliged not to act in conflict with the legitimate interests of the employer. This means that their behavior should not cause any damage to the employer's property or moral credit. If we look at it through the lens of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, we find that the employee's right to criticize his employer on social networks conflicts with the right of the employer to protect his reputation and good name.
"Therefore, if an employee chooses to criticize his employer on a social network, he should be aware of the fact that if his conduct is even potentially capable of harming the reputation of the employer, it can be considered as an infringement of the duties of employees not to act in conflict with the legitimate interests of the employer. Depending on the degree of such a violation (particularly serious, serious or less serious systematic violation), the employer can end the employee's employment either by giving them notice or effective immediately," concludes Blažek.
In the case of larger companies, they should establish an internal regulation for employees on the rules of using social networking sites with respect to their loyalty to the employer. Employees should also be trained in this practice.
Does your company have any rules for employees on the use of social networking sites?
-kk-