Social Media as Evidence in Employment Law Social media has been a big part of today’s world. Not only is it being used for one’s personal life, but it has started to seep through into the business world as well. As technology enhances, social media is being used even more in the new generation along with the older generation that has gotten the hang of it. Whether it be a positive or a negative, the growth of it is starting to be part of evidence when it comes to the work place environment but it usually has been found that it has negatively impacted someone who took it to social media to express their views. There have been a few issues that people talk about when using social media such as discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, evidence,
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Once they look you up, your profile is there to see. They could go back from a day, a week, a month, and even years to see what you’ve been writing about, what type of pictures and videos you upload, and just what type of person you are out in the social media world. Even before getting hired, your employer can see if they would still want you representing their business and decide whether to keep you or not. In an article talking about social media as evidence in employment law, it discusses how it is also being used as retrieving evidence and discovery issues. In one case, it explains how a federal court required one man to generate a copy of his whole Facebook to come up with some evidence that could go against his argument. It stated, “the employer was entitled to analyze his Facebook messages, particularly given evidence that he messaged a co-worker that he injured himself fishing, rather than in a workplace accident on the employer’s vessel, as he alleged.” (Park Topic 5 Bullet 1) Evidence on his own Facebook proved that he did not in fact get hurt at work but on his own time. He claimed that he deleted his Facebook account but in reality, he had only deactivated it, meaning all the information was still present. In
Once they look you up, your profile is there to see. They could go back from a day, a week, a month, and even years to see what you’ve been writing about, what type of pictures and videos you upload, and just what type of person you are out in the social media world. Even before getting hired, your employer can see if they would still want you representing their business and decide whether to keep you or not. In an article talking about social media as evidence in employment law, it discusses how it is also being used as retrieving evidence and discovery issues. In one case, it explains how a federal court required one man to generate a copy of his whole Facebook to come up with some evidence that could go against his argument. It stated, “the employer was entitled to analyze his Facebook messages, particularly given evidence that he messaged a co-worker that he injured himself fishing, rather than in a workplace accident on the employer’s vessel, as he alleged.” (Park Topic 5 Bullet 1) Evidence on his own Facebook proved that he did not in fact get hurt at work but on his own time. He claimed that he deleted his Facebook account but in reality, he had only deactivated it, meaning all the information was still present. In