Even private social media posts can be used as evidence to fire an employee
Publié le null - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
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If these items were not obtained fraudulently, an employer can justify a dismissal by providing evidence from the employee's private Facebook account. This production must be indispensable and the invasion of privacy must be proportionate to the aim pursued.
Employed by a children's clothing brand, an employee posted on her Facebook account photographs from the brand's new collection, limiting her publication to her
friends
.
Informed by one of the addressees of the publication, the employer dismissed the employee for serious misconduct, for non-respect of her confidentiality obligations.
The employee went to court, citing privacy concerns.
The Court of Appeal held that the employer, having not used fraudulent means to obtain the information, may adduce these photographs as evidence. For the judges, the production of the photographs, although violating the employee's privacy, is essential. And the invasion of privacy is proportionate to the purpose, which is to demonstrate a breach of a confidentiality clause.
