Companies can limit employee content on social networks
Court rulings punish worker and company for social media posts outside the workplace
Watch what you post on your social networks; it could damage your career and even lead to you being fired for cause. Recurring labor court decisions condemning companies and workers to pay compensation for inappropriate content reinforce the idea that what we do in our private lives can have repercussions in our work environment, and are therefore liable. “Companies have the right and even the duty to take action when their employees’ personal conduct interferes with the work environment, affects other people or causes damage,” explains Fernando Kede, a specialist in labour law at Schwartz e Kede Advogados.
An example of this is a recent decision by the Regional Labour Court (RLC) of Minas Gerais, which awarded compensation and indirect termination to a worker who had her image shared by a hierarchical superior without her consent. Because of this publication, the worker became the target of nasty comments in the company. In addition to her termination, the court ordered the company to pay her moral damages in the amount of R$10,000. “Even if the posts occurred outside of working hours and did not contain corporate content or direct criticism of the company, the company must take action if the content interferes with the working environment. This is what happened with this recent RLC decision,” explains the lawyer.
According to Kede, companies have an obligation to provide a healthy working environment and must act to guide and even punish inappropriate conduct. The lawyer advises workers to avoid taking photos and videos within the corporate environment, in order to preserve industrial secrets and not violate the image rights of colleagues. “You also have to be sensible when posting outside of work hours. Under no circumstances should you expose a co-worker without their permission,” he says.
Rules of conduct
Compliance lawyer Gustavo Schwartz stresses the importance of companies defining a set of rules that also covers the use of social networks. “The company needs to define in detail what it sees as the appropriate behavior it expects from its employees. These rules can’t be a copy of another company’s, because they can vary according to the area in which they operate,” he says.
Schwartz explains that establishing rules is part of a larger concept of transparency and integrity. “It makes it clear that the company operates in compliance with the law. Workers need to be instructed and sign a term of commitment; and, most importantly, these rules must apply to everyone and must not be broken by anyone,” he adds.