A conspectus of constitutional challenges associated with the dismissal of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace
Abstract Currently, there is no legislation that specifically outlaws the misuse of social media in the South African workplace. Consequently, the absence of a robust social media legislation has culminated into several unlawful and unconstitutional dismissals of employees for social media-related m...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Escola de Direito
|
| Series: | Revista Direito GV |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1808-24322019000100207&lng=en&tlng=en |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832570791498088448 |
|---|---|
| author | Howard Chitimira Kefilwe Lekopanye |
| author_facet | Howard Chitimira Kefilwe Lekopanye |
| author_sort | Howard Chitimira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Currently, there is no legislation that specifically outlaws the misuse of social media in the South African workplace. Consequently, the absence of a robust social media legislation has culminated into several unlawful and unconstitutional dismissals of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace. Conversely, this gap has also given rise to rampant abuse of social media platforms by employees in the South African workplace. This status quo has caused various constitutional and other related challenges to be experienced by both employees and employers in South Africa. For instance, the abuse of social media by employees in the workplace during working hours could affect the reputation, productivity, and profitability of their employer’s business. Similarly, any employers’ draconian rules prohibiting or monitoring the use of social-media in the workplace could infringe upon their employees’ rights to freedom of expression, privacy, dignity and freedom of association. Accordingly, the article discusses constitutional challenges that could result from the unlawful dismissal of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace. In this regard, the article exposes challenges that occur when balancing the employees’ constitutional rights and the employers’ business reputation and related rights. This is done to isolate constitutional problems that ensue from the abuse of social media by employees in the workplace during office working hours. The article also discusses constitutional and related problems that stem from the unlawful dismissals of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace. Lastly, recommendations that could be adopted to combat employees’ social media-related misconduct and enhance the regulation of social media in the South African workplace are provided. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a2aec12f86824868ac022679a3f008e3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2317-6172 |
| language | English |
| publisher | Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Escola de Direito |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Revista Direito GV |
| spelling | doaj-art-a2aec12f86824868ac022679a3f008e32025-02-02T14:02:37ZengFundação Getúlio Vargas, Escola de DireitoRevista Direito GV2317-617215110.1590/2317-6172201909S1808-24322019000100207A conspectus of constitutional challenges associated with the dismissal of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplaceHoward ChitimiraKefilwe LekopanyeAbstract Currently, there is no legislation that specifically outlaws the misuse of social media in the South African workplace. Consequently, the absence of a robust social media legislation has culminated into several unlawful and unconstitutional dismissals of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace. Conversely, this gap has also given rise to rampant abuse of social media platforms by employees in the South African workplace. This status quo has caused various constitutional and other related challenges to be experienced by both employees and employers in South Africa. For instance, the abuse of social media by employees in the workplace during working hours could affect the reputation, productivity, and profitability of their employer’s business. Similarly, any employers’ draconian rules prohibiting or monitoring the use of social-media in the workplace could infringe upon their employees’ rights to freedom of expression, privacy, dignity and freedom of association. Accordingly, the article discusses constitutional challenges that could result from the unlawful dismissal of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace. In this regard, the article exposes challenges that occur when balancing the employees’ constitutional rights and the employers’ business reputation and related rights. This is done to isolate constitutional problems that ensue from the abuse of social media by employees in the workplace during office working hours. The article also discusses constitutional and related problems that stem from the unlawful dismissals of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace. Lastly, recommendations that could be adopted to combat employees’ social media-related misconduct and enhance the regulation of social media in the South African workplace are provided.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1808-24322019000100207&lng=en&tlng=enMá conduta relacionada ao uso de redes sociaisambiente de trabalhodesafiosConstituiçãoÁfrica do Sul |
| spellingShingle | Howard Chitimira Kefilwe Lekopanye A conspectus of constitutional challenges associated with the dismissal of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace Revista Direito GV Má conduta relacionada ao uso de redes sociais ambiente de trabalho desafios Constituição África do Sul |
| title | A conspectus of constitutional challenges associated with the dismissal of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace |
| title_full | A conspectus of constitutional challenges associated with the dismissal of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace |
| title_fullStr | A conspectus of constitutional challenges associated with the dismissal of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace |
| title_full_unstemmed | A conspectus of constitutional challenges associated with the dismissal of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace |
| title_short | A conspectus of constitutional challenges associated with the dismissal of employees for social media-related misconduct in the South African workplace |
| title_sort | conspectus of constitutional challenges associated with the dismissal of employees for social media related misconduct in the south african workplace |
| topic | Má conduta relacionada ao uso de redes sociais ambiente de trabalho desafios Constituição África do Sul |
| url | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1808-24322019000100207&lng=en&tlng=en |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT howardchitimira aconspectusofconstitutionalchallengesassociatedwiththedismissalofemployeesforsocialmediarelatedmisconductinthesouthafricanworkplace AT kefilwelekopanye aconspectusofconstitutionalchallengesassociatedwiththedismissalofemployeesforsocialmediarelatedmisconductinthesouthafricanworkplace AT howardchitimira conspectusofconstitutionalchallengesassociatedwiththedismissalofemployeesforsocialmediarelatedmisconductinthesouthafricanworkplace AT kefilwelekopanye conspectusofconstitutionalchallengesassociatedwiththedismissalofemployeesforsocialmediarelatedmisconductinthesouthafricanworkplace |