Facebook: "Friend Requests" and The Law

A couple of recent news items illustrate how Facebook is creating new challenges that Canada's Courts may increasingly be required to unravel.

Facebook and Family Law

This British news story on Facebook ought to catch the attention of many Family Law lawyers and litigants.

A Facebook "friend request" to an ex-spouse could land you in jail, if you have been on the receiving end of a restraining Order that forbids any communication:

Dillon Osborn, a resident of the United Kingdom, was sent to jail for a week for a facebook 'friend request' sent to his ex-wife, whom he was legally forbidden from trying to contact. We've all heard that social networking sites can steal hours of your life, but this has to be the most extreme case on record.

At the risk of repeating a caution oft-uttered at Wise Law Office: If a restraining order says "no contact," it means "no contact."

Now, apparently we must add the further clarification - "Not even on Facebook."

.....

Facebook and Employment Law

With Facebook's rather unexpected arrival as a ubiquitous social networking hub, it is inevitable that Employment Law lawyers will soon be dealing regularly with the fallout of this new and very sticky, workplace concern:

My boss wants to "friend me:"

A female advertising creative (26) wrote: I work in an advertising agency and my boss (who is quite cool) has just asked to be my friend on Facebook.

I feel invaded - I'm passionate about my work but want to keep it separate from the rest of my life...

"Friend requests" and Facebook exchanges between employees and supervisors could ultimately have serious repercussions in wrongful dismissal and workplace harassment cases.

As I understand that the Facebook platform itself is about to undergo upgrades that will allow contacts to be sorted and grouped by "type' - e.g., family, friend, professional, community - I am going to hold off on too much premature comment.

I will point out a few immediate thoughts. These comments are premised on the assumption that Facebook, or at least social networking in some fashion, is here to stay and and is about to become virtually unavoidable in commercial life:

• Supervisors absolutely should never initiate "friend requests" to those they supervise. As the excerpt above indicates, such requests may not be as welcome as a friendly, in-office "vibe" might appear to indicate.
• If an employee invites a supervisor to be a Facebook contact, "limited profile" access is probably most appropriate for both employee and employer. As limiting access can be seen as a slight or insult, however, care should be taken to have written policies and consistency around this.
• I suspect the trend may soon lean in the direction of maintaining two, entirely separate Facebook identities - a business/professional profile, based on an office email address, and a personal Facebook profile, based on another email address, so that the two solitudes of personal and business life simply do not interact (but, having said that, it may well be that the online genie is already so far out of the bottle that maintaining a discrete personal/business divide has become a virtual impossibility for early adaptors).
• This is all very new to office culture. Until our society sorts it out and a new accepted etiquette evolves, employers should err on the side of "business-appropriate" and caution when it comes to Facebook dealings between employees and their supervisors. At all costs, if there is to be such contact, keep the tone professional.
• "It was only Facebook" will never be a good defense to workplace harassment claims, nor will it provide any answer to a termination of employment for just cause due to repeated online insult or insubordination.

The bottom line is that employees, job-hunters and employers alike must also grow used to the reality that in this post-Microsoft, Web 2.0 era, if you put it online, it will probably be found by those you least want to see it.

Facebook Bans in the Workplace

To date, most media attention on Facebook in the workplace has typically dwelled on employers' Facebook "bans" and the debate as to whether employees have been wasting too much time on Facebook during working hours.

We think this is a non-issue.

Facebook use in the workplace can and should be addressed by employers with specific and fair written policies, just as previous technology-driven concerns over personal telephone calls, emails and Internet use, in general, have been.

I'm sure at some point there was much controversy about employees wasting time reading newspapers at their desks, too. And about parking spaces for horses and buggies.

Outright "bans" are silly, regressive and counterproductive, given that Facebook creates so many opportunities that can be harvested effectively in the workplace.

As examples:

• Facebook can function seamlessly as an effective in-house bulletin board or Intranet. Where better to re-publish a company Facebook policy or cross-post details of the company's Christmas party than via Facebook?
• Facebook is a cost-free platform that enables instant publicity about new products, publishes corporate announcements regarding personnel developments and other changes, and allows targeted dissemination of important company and product-related news to employees and consumers.
• It is also as good a means as you will find for maintaining ongoing client contact and establishing positive, online human rapport with your customers and target markets alike.

Clearly, the Courts will be called upon to address all kinds of new and unforseen issues regarding Facebook's implications, some of them serious, many not.

It is important that common sense prevail.

Social networking technology is just the messenger of the moment. Let's not shoot it.

Human nature remains. It will be the messages we humans send via that messenger that will continuously need tempering.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

EMPLOYMENT LAW • CIVIL LITIGATION • WILLS AND ESTATES • FAMILY LAW & DIVORCE