internetabuse
If an employee raises an issue of
cyber bullying and you, as an
employer, turn a blind eye, you run
the risk that the employee in question
may resign and look to claim
constructive unfair dismissal against
you for failure to protect them. If an
employee is successful in an
Employment Tribunal, you could be
looking at a claim of up to £63,000.
An employee may bring a
discrimination claim in tribunal if
comments are based about their sex,
ethnicity, sexuality, or any disability.
The worrying aspect of a claim of
this type is that an employee can
bring a freestanding claim while in
employment (they do not have to
resign) and the claim is uncapped in
tribunal.
If an employee is being bullied,
there is a risk that they could also
look to bring a claim for stress under
health and safety legislation against
the employer if they knew of the
bullying yet did not take any action.
An employee also has the
potential to utilise the criminal law to
their advantage.
Persistent comments and
degrading remarks could lead to the
employee taking action under the
Protection from Harassment Act.
Employers could be liable if
employees engage in conduct ‘likely
to cause harassment’ that has a
close connection with work.
Therefore, if an employee harasses
another employee using their
company e-mail account, the
employer could be liable.
Employers should implement a
two-tier approach to deal with internet
abuse and cyber bullying.
Firstly, they should have a clear
and coherent internet and e-mail
usage policy which also includes an
acceptable usage level, such as
employers should actually enforceallowing employees to access the
the policy.internet for personal use in their
It is all too common for employerslunch breaks.
to have policies and procedures, butSecondly, they should remind
to become incredibly lax when itemployees that their online access
comes to implementing and enforcingwill be monitored and that if they
them.breach this policy, disciplinary action
Always be aware of settingcould be taken against them.
precedents – if you let one memberMake it very clear to employees
of staff away with it ‘just this once’,that if you are happy for them to
you will need to be just as lenientaccess social networking sites and
with all your staff.send personal e-mails in their own
Victims of cyber-bullying shouldtime, any form of cyber bullying, or
also be given a means of re-dress,the posting of derogatory comments
whether it be via the grievanceabout colleagues or other members
procedure or with a specific bullyingof staff, will not be tolerated.
policy.It may sound simple, but
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