Company's rights regarding monitoring of employees Social Networking pages

DuckOfDoom

I have a question regarding the potential legality of an issue mentioned in the title, with respect to Irish Data Protection/Privacy/ Workplace Act law, regarding this.

In essence, can a company operating in Ireland, subject its employees to the monitoring of their Social Networking pages (Facebook/Twitter/whatever) during off-work hours? Also, could the company make the employees legally liable for their expression of opinion about said company, by labelling such as slander/libel and terminate the employment of said employee and/or pursue the matter further legally? If so, how is the legal distinction made between the expression of ones opinion versus deliberate slander?

Furthermore, is it legal for a company to make employees sign a document allowing the company to perform such monitoring checks under the threat of disciplinary actions/termination?

I apologize if it is confusing, so here are examples of what I am NOT talking about here:

- I am not talking about the use of Social Networkinggg sites during work hours
- I am not talking about Non-Disclosure of sensitive company information using Social Networking sites

What I am talking about is something like the hypothetical examples below:

- "I had a terrible day because Bob the company manager is a huge asshole" posted in Facebook which leads to said employee being fired

- "I think company is not the best place to work for" - bam, fired

- "I think company could improve x and y" - gone down in flames

I hope this makes sense.

I am looking forward to reading your replies!

not even wrong

DuckOfDoom wrote: »

In essence, can a company operating in Ireland, subject its employees to the monitoring of their Social Networking pages (Facebook/Twitter/whatever) during off-work hours?

Yes, this is public information which you have deliberately made openly available to the world in general, there is nothing to stop your employer from reading it .

Also, could the company make the employees legally liable for their expression of opinion about said company, by labelling such as slander/libel and terminate the employment of said employee and/or pursue the matter further legally?

Yes.

If so, how is the legal distinction made between the expression of ones opinion versus deliberate slander?

the same way it's usually made.

Furthermore, is it legal for a company to make employees sign a document allowing the company to perform such monitoring checks under the threat of disciplinary actions/termination?

You cannot be fired for refusing to sign such a document (personally I wouldn't be very happy about being forced to sign it) however the company does not need your signature to look at your Facebook page.

What I am talking about is something like the hypothetical examples below:

- "I had a terrible day because Bob the company manager is a huge asshole" posted in Facebook which leads to said employee being fired

- "I think company is not the best place to work for" - bam, fired

- "I think company could improve x and y" - gone down in flames

I hope this makes sense.

I am looking forward to reading your replies!

There is nothing new or special about Facebook from a legal point of view. Imagine each of those sentences loudly announced to the general public in a pub or on the street and you will have your answer.

You may be interested to read this article from a few years back; the girl got €4k in wrongful dismissal, not because the company was not entitled to read her Bebo page and take action based on it, but because the penalty was disproportionate.