In preview of today’s ABC Law Report, comment was made about the recent case of the Department of Immigration and a former employee. It revolves around “anonymous” tweets that the department found inappropriate, and the source was traced to the employee. Unusually for the public service, termination of employment followed.
Parallels were drawn between this case and an earlier finding in favour of an employee of a transport company in similar circumstances.
There are two threads to this. Firstly, as an employer it is essential to have written policy in place, and to ensure that it is made available and is understood by employees. Consideration should also be given to adding a clause to the employment contract.
On the second front, as an employee, remember the Nana Principle. And that is “If it is not acceptable to Nana, don’t post it to social media”. Or in this instance should we substitute “your employer”?
The team at accross business is on hand to help you to establish and draft policy and to prepare bullet proof employment contracts that clearly define the limits of what is acceptable, and what is reasonable freedom of expression.
