Social networking sites spark rise in legal worries (From The Northern Echo)

Social networking sites spark rise in legal worries

10:56am Tuesday 1st December 2009

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COMPANIES are becoming increasingly concerned about the legal issues they face when clamping down on employees use of social networking sites during work hours.

North-East law firm Ward Hadaway said it had been oversubscribed for legal seminars last month on the subject.

As a result, it may now organise further seminars in the new year covering the implications for privacy and employment law when dealing with staff using sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

The law firm ran the various seminars in partnership with Durham-based training company Protostar Leadership Development and believed the amount of concern among employers over the subject was illustrated by the fact that more than 120 human resources managers and business leaders attended.

Michael Coates, managing director of Protostar, said the high demand for the events demonstrated the impact social networking is having on the workplace.

He said: “A number of recent surveys have shown that more than 25 per cent of employees aged 18 to 35 are spending, on average, three hours every week during working hours on social network sites or emailing friends. Many employers don’t need a survey to tell them that, because they have seen productivity fall.”

He added: “A number of high-profile cases include employees being fired for what they put on Facebook.

“A number of organisations have also had an amnesty for employees to take down unofficial websites about their company.”

Many companies believe that their IT security systems will stop misuse by blocking certain sites.

However, Mr Coates said it was easy for anyone with a basic IT knowledge to network, messenger, and play games online at work, despite controls.

Harmajinder Hayre, a partner at Ward Hadaway, said: “Faced with this kind of use, many organisations now want to know if they can monitor emails and web usage, or even have surveillance of certain employees, as without that it is very difficult to tackle the issues.

“During the workshop, I took delegates through the legal aspects of privacy and some of the practical implications of monitoring employees.”

Newcastle-based Ward Hadaway is one of the UK’s top 100 law firms, and employs nearly 400 staff, including many nationally recognised legal experts.

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