You may have recently heard about the story of Paris Brown, the former youth police and crime commissioner for Kent, who was forced to resign from her post last month after tabloids publicised tweets she had previously made.

The 17-year-old had appeared to condone drug taking, binge drinking and made comments which could be considered homophobic and racist. Brown’s tweets are also being investigated by Kent Police for possible criminal offences. In one tweet she wrote: “I’m either really fun, friendly and inclusive when I’m drunk or I’m an anti-social, racist, sexist, embarrassing a*******, often it’s the latter.”

Despite her tweets being posted when she was in her early teens (between 14 and 16 years old), they cost Brown her £15,000 job with Kent Police who later admitted that due to the junior level of the role they did not look at Brown’s social networking history as part of their recruitment process.

What does this mean for employees?

This particular story highlights the need for employees to consider carefully what they post on social media sites because it can have a direct impact on their employment, even after they have secured employment.

Since the emergence of Facebook and Twitter, it is now a ‘HR tactic’ for a potential employer to look at an individual’s social media posts (those which are publicly available) before they recruit.

To be safe, anyone starting or applying for a new job should have a thorough check through their social networking history for posts or pictures that might get them in trouble. It may be a good idea to go back and check that there aren’t any pictures from your days as a student that you might not want employers to see!

What does this mean for employers?

 More companies are now using social media sites as part of their vetting process. Other companies are not too keen on doing so due to the risk of discrimination. Social media sites will often contain personal details (for example, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation etc.) and if an employer has access to this information and then uses such information as the basis for refusing to recruit or to dismiss that person, then the employer’s action could constitute unlawful direct discrimination.

Vetting job applicants using information contained on social media sites could also have implications for employers under the Data Protection Act. It may therefore be sensible for employers to notify applicants at the start of any application process that a vetting exercise using social media sites will form part of their recruitment process.

However, improper and inappropriate use by employees carries tremendous legal risk for the employer, including:

• ·Potential unauthorised disclosure of the employer’s confidential and proprietary information.
• ·Infringement of third party intellectual property rights.
• ·Liability for discriminatory or defamatory comments posted by employees.

However, improper and inappropriate use by employees carries tremendous legal risk for the employer, including:

• ·Potential unauthorised disclosure of the employer’s confidential and proprietary information.
• ·Infringement of third party intellectual property rights.
• ·Liability for discriminatory or defamatory comments posted by employees.

In relation to current staff, the improper and inappropriate use of social media by employees carries tremendous legal risk for employers (for example, liability for discriminatory or defamatory comments posted by employees). For this reason, many companies now have a social media policy in place. In light of above if you haven’t got one, now is a good time to do so.

For a non-obligatory quote for a social media policy or if you have any questions on the content of this article then please contact us .