Are you adequately prepared?

Blogging and the effect on HR

Internetblogging ‘Blogs’ (short for web logs) are free and easy to set up and use. They are used by people who want to share thoughts, and can be seen as a modern day online diary. It is believed that a web log is created every second.

Blogging has only emerged over the last few years. If an individual’s blog includes any information relating to a person’s place of employment, it immediately becomes relevant to employment law.

A few examples of people being dismissed from their jobs as a result of blogs they have written are as follows:

  • A British secretary was sacked from her job in Paris over an internet diary. After the secretary (and therefore her employer) became identified, her employer sacked her. She claims she was dismissed for bringing the company into disrepute, despite never naming it in her diary.
  • A Delta Air Lines flight attendant has brought legal action in the US after she lost her job for apparently posting "inappropriate images" of herself wearing the company uniform.
  • In the UK, a man was sacked by bookseller Waterstones for "bringing the company into disrepute" after mentioning his boss in his satirical blog.

Workers obviously have a right to a private life. However, this right is subject to their employer having legitimate interests in wanting to protect something like its reputation.

Therefore, as blogging is now so popular, employers may need to add a policy on blogging which prohibits the use of the company internet to keep a blog, even if it is in their 'own time'. Employers may also want to include blogging at work as a potential act of gross misconduct.

Adding a clause to a pre-existing e-mail/internet policy which makes reference to 'blogging' should not be too difficult, but it is extremely important that a change is properly communicated to workers, and subsequently acted on.

If it is found that an employee has made comments on their blog which relates to their place of employment, the company can seek to protect its reputation. Internet service providers (ISPs) are aware they may be held liable as being the publishers of defamatory comments, so they can withdraw the content from their site once they have been notified.

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