Nurses should beware when using social media sites



Do you hate your boss? Have you taken a sick day just so you can stay at home and enjoy the latest blockbuster? If so, you’d be wise not to post this information on social media networks, writes

Barely a week goes by without a story about employees terminated or disciplined as a result of comments they have made on social networking websites.

The explosive growth in social networking as a means of communication is legally unexplored territory and is a source of headaches and heartache for both employers and employees.

Nurses and midwives, like everyone else, have flocked to using social networking websites as a means of communicating with friends, family and colleagues.

But NSW Nurses Association members need to be aware that their activities on social networking websites can come back to bite them in the workplace.

Recently the NSW Department of Corrective Services threatened to sack prison officers over a post they made to a Facebook group criticising their bosses and the NSW State Government’s plan to privatise a number of prisons.

Their union has accused the Department of trying to intimidate prison officers to stifle dissent as well as invading the private lives of the Department’s employees.

In March this year a Telstra employee was disciplined because of comments he posted on Twitter.

In recent times employees have been fired for making derogatory comments in relation to their boss, noting that they were ‘chucking a sickie’ in their status update and criticising their boss or co-workers on their Facebook page.

The law is still struggling to come to grips with the conundrums presented by social networking websites in relation to a range of legal issues from employment law, privacy law and copyright law. In relation to employment, this relies on possible antiquated common law principles.

The ability of an employer to discipline an employee for out-of-hours conduct is restricted. In the decision of Rose v Telstra Corporation Limited, Vice-President Ross of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), after considering the historical aspects of the employment relationship, provided a useful guide as to when out-of-hours conduct may be a valid ground for termination.

VP Ross found that only in limited circumstances may an employee’s employment be validly terminated because of out-of-hours conduct. The circumstances would have to be where the conduct was such that, viewed objectively, it is likely to cause serious damage to the relationship between the employer and the employee, the conduct damages the employer’s interest, or the conduct is incompatible with the employee’s duty as an employee.

A recent decision in the AIRC saw an employee reinstated to his employment at a Victorian supermarket after he was deemed to have been unfairly dismissed for his participation in a YouTube video that showed skylarking during the night filling of the supermarket.

Luke Forsyth, Senior Legal Officer at the Queensland Nurses Union, offers these simple rules for nurses and midwives to follow when using social networking:

•    ensure the privacy settings on the website do not allow open public access;
•    don’t talk about confidential patient or work information on your website;
•    don’t publish photographs of yourself engaging in illegal, offensive or inappropriate activity;
•    don’t post photographs of yourself engaging in conduct in the workplace which you know would be deemed inappropriate by your em ployer. The same goes for comments;
•    don’t add new friends on your website when off work sick;
•    don’t fake a sick day and announce it on your website;
•    don’t criticise your place of employment, clients or patients on your website;
•    don’t use your website to criticise your boss or other workmates;
•    don’t make comments that clearly identify your employer and bring your employer into disrepute on your website;
•    don’t update your website status about something work-related;
•    don’t post compromising photos of yourself or join questionable groups on a social networking website;
•    DO try to avoid using your real name on your website.

This article was republished from The Lamp, April 2010. The Lamp is published by the NSW Nurses Association.