Toronto Star interviews Daniel Lublin on Facebook issues at work

From a legal standpoint, employers have good reason to specifically prohibit the use of Facebook at work, according to Daniel Lublin, an employment law expert based in Toronto.

On Friday, the Toronto Star sought Daniel A. Lublin's legal opinion when it comes to the recent Facebook at work dilemma.  On Wednesday, the Provincial Government banned the use of Facebook at work.  Read the article "Facebook banned for Ontario Staffers".  In its follow up piece, the business editors weighed in on the issue and looked to Lublin for the legal aspects of banning Facebook at work.  Read the full article "Worries Follow Rise of Facebook".  Excepts of the article can be found below.

"First, employees are wasting inordinate time on Facebook, given the popularity of the site and the reality that most use it exclusively for nonbusiness purposes, such as chatting with friends," Lublin wrote in an email.

"Second, unlike general Internet use, Facebook allows users to post information on line for others to see, and later revisit, which can potentially compromise a company's reputation, trade secrets or its competitive advantage."

Facebook indirectly encourages people to chat about work by inviting them to disclose their place of employment and then automatically linking them with registered co-workers, Lublin also wrote.

Users can get into trouble even if the damaging comments are written on their own time and computer, he also wrote.

Comments

[Daniel Lublin]

Fascinating, Ms. Long. My view is that seldom will Facebook be used for exclusively business purposes but even if I’m wrong, the Provincial government’s approach seemed not to be a stopgap measure but rather an obvious management response to a rather novel threat.

[Stacey Long]

Clearly, the increased popularity of websites such as facebook has significant implications for both employers and employees. An outright ban, however, may prove to be an overly simplified approach to a technological phenomenon that has uses which are not entirely inconsistent with the workplace.