Firms who discipline or sack staff for comments made on Facebook and Twitter could be acting illegally, says a veteran lawyer.
Stories about NSW Department of Corrective Services threatening to sack prison officers over Facebook posts and Telstra disciplining employee Leslie Nassar for Twitter comments have provoked a series of other examples.
They include a reader who says he was fired from his job at a "large corporate bank" for using the word "recession" in his Facebook profile.
A teacher also complained she was disciplined over comments she made about being bullied.
But Steven Penning, a partner with Turner Freeman with two decades of experience in workplace law, says employers may be acting unlawfully.
He said employment contracts are unlikely to cover staff use of social networking sites.
--------------------------------------------------------------MashUp Blog: Have you been threatened over social network comments?--------------------------------------------------------------
"What employers are doing is they're scrambling and trying to make out that present policies can be stretched to cover these new areas, and in many respects they can't," Penning said.
"If an employer hasn't told people in advance what the rules are, what the conditions are, then that greatly increases the likelihood that an employee can say well, I can't be terminated for this because I wasn't aware that this is something I was not to do."
He contrasted this with the clear policies surrounding the use of work internet access and email that staff were made aware of as soon as they signed up.
The growth of social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace has meant people are having private conversations they would have at the pub in an online setting.
However, Penning said this was no longer considered private comment because the discussions are published and distributed publicly.
A 27-year-old Australian woman, who did not want to be named, said about six months ago her employer - a large online technology company - started disciplinary action against her over a "generic" comment she wrote on the Facebook wall of a friend, who did not work at the company, outside of work hours.
Stories about NSW Department of Corrective Services threatening to sack prison officers over Facebook posts and Telstra disciplining employee Leslie Nassar for Twitter comments have provoked a series of other examples.
They include a reader who says he was fired from his job at a "large corporate bank" for using the word "recession" in his Facebook profile.
A teacher also complained she was disciplined over comments she made about being bullied.
But Steven Penning, a partner with Turner Freeman with two decades of experience in workplace law, says employers may be acting unlawfully.
He said employment contracts are unlikely to cover staff use of social networking sites.
--------------------------------------------------------------MashUp Blog: Have you been threatened over social network comments?--------------------------------------------------------------
"What employers are doing is they're scrambling and trying to make out that present policies can be stretched to cover these new areas, and in many respects they can't," Penning said.
"If an employer hasn't told people in advance what the rules are, what the conditions are, then that greatly increases the likelihood that an employee can say well, I can't be terminated for this because I wasn't aware that this is something I was not to do."
He contrasted this with the clear policies surrounding the use of work internet access and email that staff were made aware of as soon as they signed up.
The growth of social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace has meant people are having private conversations they would have at the pub in an online setting.
However, Penning said this was no longer considered private comment because the discussions are published and distributed publicly.
A 27-year-old Australian woman, who did not want to be named, said about six months ago her employer - a large online technology company - started disciplinary action against her over a "generic" comment she wrote on the Facebook wall of a friend, who did not work at the company, outside of work hours.
