Social media’s integration into our lives means our personal and professional lives often blur together. Unfortunately, social media can also make it easy to engage in harassing and bullying behavior, and this, too, can spill over into our working lives.
Social media harassment comes in many forms, from public posts to private messages, screenshots of conversations, photographs and videos. It can occur in almost any environment, including the workplace.
This has resulted in the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (“EEOC”) including social media in updates to its harassment guidelines.
Social media harassment could now create a hostile work environment
Employers are responsible for creating and maintaining a harassment-free environment for their employees.
Under the new guidelines, California employers could now be held liable for creating a hostile workplace environment in cases involving employees who used their social media accounts to engage in behavior that harasses or discriminates against other employees or clients.
Employers can be held accountable even if this behavior occurs outside work hours.
Since social media generally allows communication from anywhere at any time, social media is now being considered an extension of the workplace.
Examples of social media harassment
While there are many ways social media could be used to harass another employee, some common forms include cyberstalking and sharing unwanted content.
Harassment could be following another employee’s social media accounts, trying to communicate with them through social media, sending unwanted photos or other content or commenting on their social media posts after the employee has made it clear the contact is unwanted.
Cyberstalking involves an employee tracking another employee through their social media accounts. What makes cyberstalking even more dangerous is that some social media applications share their users’ locations, making it possible to cross the line from cyberstalking to physical stalking.
Social media harassment can cause an employee to feel a sense of discomfort of threat. Since social media harassment can take place anytime, a hostile workplace environment can be created before, during or after traditional workplace hours.
Employers’ legal obligations
Employers have a legal duty to prevent social media harassment. This means preventing harassment from occurring in the first place and properly addressing harassment when it is reported.
If you are experiencing social media harassment from a co-worker, manager, client or customer, you should report it to your employer. You have a right to a workplace where you feel safe and harassment complaints are taken seriously.
Your complaint should be thoroughly investigated by your employer and proper steps should be taken to address the problem.
If you feel your complaint is not taken seriously and the harassment continues, per the updated EEOC guidelines, your employer could be violating the law. It is important to speak up when you feel your rights are being violated and know how to hold your employer and the harasser accountable.