Employers tread a fine line when they set onerous policies for their staff’s use of social networking sites that seek to curb out-of-office behaviour employment lawyers say. Although employers are free to set the terms of behavioural policies unreasonable demands on staff could lead to unfair dismissal claims or disputes over a lack of promotion or other career advancement opportunities. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia asked staff to “act in the group’s best interest at all times and this extends to your participation in and use of social media channels” even outside of work. They have come under criticism for this new policy from the Financial Services Union.
Locally the main employer group which appears to set unreasonable limits on staff’s out-fo-office behaviour is the public service. We think that people who live locally should be completely free to join local groups and to speak out on local issues when they are not at work.