The number of people in the UK battling eating disorders is rising, resulting in many children, young people and adults being admitted to hospital, or at increased risk of suicide. While recovery rates are optimistic, if young people do not overcome an eating disorder, it can stay with them into adult life, at which point it becomes much more difficult to cure. Continue reading “How to help pupils with eating disorders”
This week’s blog is brought to you by our legal experts, Veale Wasbrough Vizards (VWV).
In a world of social media, it is incredibly easy for disgruntled pupils, parents or ex-staff members to make their feelings heard. At VWV, we regularly encounter schools facing issues on this front. The aim for the school is usually to close the issue down without drawing further attention to what is being said, which is often unfounded abuse; so, understandably, it is not something that tends to be discussed. It is, however, helpful to be aware of typical scenarios to minimise the impact on the reputation of your school and its staff should you be targeted. Continue reading “Managing your online reputation”
With smartphone ownership at record levels and school budgets getting tighter, more schools than ever are looking at mobile apps as an alternative to often expensive and outdated text-based communication systems. Continue reading “Are you ‘appy’ with your school’s communication system?”
This post from our contributor and legal specialist, Veale Wasbrough Vizards, explores how a solid Social Media Policy can help your school succeed in claims brought to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, using a recent high profile case as an example.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has recently upheld a decision ruling that a dismissal for derogatory comments about an employer on Facebook was fair.
In British Waterways Board v Smith, Mr Smith was employed by the British Waterways Board (BW) as a manual worker for 8 years. As part of his job, Mr Smith worked on a rota where he was on standby for one week in every five. BW prohibited employees drinking alcohol when they were on standby. It also had a social media policy which forbade ‘any action on the internet which might embarrass or discredit BW’.
During the investigation of a grievance raised by Mr Smith, Mr Smith’s manager supplied HR with copies of pages from Mr Smith’s Facebook account which included derogatory comments by Mr Smith about his supervisors. On receipt, the HR team investigated further and identified evidence that suggested Mr Smith was drunk whilst on standby.
A disciplinary investigation subsequently took place and several other Facebook comments were identified which were either derogatory about BW, supervisors and colleagues, or suggested that Mr Smith had been drinking on days when on standby.
Mr Smith’s manager was aware of some of the comments and had previously raised them with HR (although he had not sent screenshots). HR had not investigated at the time because they were “too busy”. Mr Smith accepted that he made the comments but said that they were just ‘banter’ and he had not in fact been drinking. He also contended that his Facebook account had been hacked and changed from ‘private’ to ‘public’.
At a subsequent disciplinary hearing, the decision-maker concluded that, irrespective of whether the comments were true, they had the potential to undermine confidence in Mr Smith’s ability to react in an emergency and left BW open to public condemnation. It was also decided that Mr Smith’s actions were a clear breach of BW’s policies and he was summarily dismissed for gross misconduct.
Mr Smith brought a claim for unfair dismissal to the Employment Tribunal (ET).
The ET found that, although the process BW followed was fair, the decision to dismiss Mr Smith was not within the band of reasonable responses which a reasonable employer would take and therefore was not fair. In particular, the ET found that BW failed to
consider Mr Smith’s points of mitigation.
Overturning this decision on appeal, the EAT found that, as the ET
accepted that a fair procedure had been followed, it must have concluded that BW had considered Mr Smith’s points of mitigation. That being so, the ET had improperly substituted its own views for that of the employer. It held that the decision to dismiss was fair.
Best practice
The very public nature of comments on social media means that the potential for reputational damage is significant. What assisted BW in this case was having very clear policies addressing the use of social media and being clear with employees about what is and is not acceptable − a practice we would always recommend. Those schools which have adopted our template employment documentation will be familiar with the operation of our Social Media Policy.
This case also highlights the importance of identifying and considering all points of mitigation when deciding on disciplinary action.
Whilst BW was able to demonstrate that the dismissal was fair in this case, even though it had been aware of (albeit had not investigated) the Facebook comments for a number of years, it would be best practice to avoid delay in investigating concerns which come to your school’s attention – not least in cases involving comments on social media, to avoid the potential for further reputational damage.
For more information, please contact Alice Reeve on 0117 314 5383.
Nigel Crebbin, a partner in the law firm, Berg, looks at how social media can be a trap for the unwary teacher and how schools can limit the risks
As the summer holidays approach, many teachers will be looking forward to a well-earned rest and to a break from the responsibilities of life at school. Often when people go away, they let their guard down at least a bit and, while usually there’s no harm in this, these days it’s especially important to be aware of how social media can come back to haunt you.
Teaching is one of those professions where preserving the correct personal image can be crucially important and even relatively innocuous holiday pictures could prove difficult to deal with if they were to fall into the hands of pupils or the local press.
Consequently, teachers who make use of social media sites such as Facebook need to be very aware of the risks that go with the benefits of that usage and need to ensure that they’re fully up-to-speed with and make use of the security settings which are usually available but which are not always put into effect. It’s also very important to think carefully before accepting someone as a social media “friend” and certainly accepting a pupil as a “friend” would almost always be a bad idea.
It’s also important to do all you can to remove anything about you which is out there in cyberspace and which, if you think about it, could cause you and your school embarrassment if it were to fall into the wrong hands. Being aware of your cyber-footprint is of key importance these days. If a teacher becomes aware of something which is potentially embarrassing about them being available on social media, and finds that they are having difficulty getting it removed, then it can often be better to draw it to the attention of their school as soon as possible. That way the school might be able to help them deal with the issue before it becomes public knowledge and becomes more than a source of minor embarrassment.
Another key requirement in our modern social media world is for schools to have in place a social media policy for their staff, making clear what is and is not regarded by the school as being acceptable social media behaviour. The school should also make sure that its staff are properly trained with regard to that policy and with regard to things such as social media security settings. People are far less likely to do something which their employer would rather they do not do if they have been told what sort of conduct is and is not acceptable beforehand, and have also been told what the potential consequences are for their employment if they do not keep to the rules. Furthermore, an employer runs far less risk of a successful claim being made against it when it disciplines or dismisses an employee over social media use if the employer can point to a clearly worded policy which prohibited that kind of conduct and made clear what the consequences could be for not keeping to the policy’s requirements.
So when summer term finishes this year and you head off for a much needed and much deserved rest, please make sure that the only thing you will need to worry about with your holiday snaps when you get back is boring your neighbours.
Nigel Crebbin is a partner at Manchester law firm, Berg, and can be contacted on 0161 833 9211 or at nigelc@berg.co.uk. Follow Berg on Twitter @Berg_HR
(The information and opinions contained in this blog/article are not intended to be comprehensive, nor to provide legal advice. No responsibility for its accuracy or correctness is assumed by Berg or any of its partners or employees. Professional legal advice should be obtained before taking, or refraining from taking, any action as a result of this blog/article.)
Whether you like it or not, social media has seeped into every aspect of our lives. And nowhere can its presence be felt more keenly than in education. The social networking site is increasingly being used by schools to share academic resources, communicate with students and promote academic engagement outside the classroom.
In May 2013, there were a reported 1.1 billion Facebook users around the world. This makes it a potentially rich tool for teaching and learning.
Education think tank, The Education Foundation, has recently launched a one-of-a-kind resource with information on how Facebook can be used in classrooms. A series of workshops were conducted at Facebook HQ which looked into the opportunities and challenges of using Facebook as a tool for education.
The guide examines ways teachers can use the site for formal learning, out of school hours learning and wider applications. For instance, Facebook Groups can be used to:
If your school needs help getting started with Facebook, maybe the following tips outlined by the guide can help you:
• Talk to ICT – Identify and unblock Facebook access restrictions for teachers first so you can test ideas and projects with colleagues.
• Start simple – Experiment with the use of a Facebook Page or Group where you can test the tools and technology.
• Privacy – If you are working directly with students – adjust your own privacy and security settings on Facebook and get them to do the same.
• Start outside the classroom – Consider starting to use Facebook in an out of school hours learning activity like a sports team or drama group.
• Test ideas – Use fellow staff members and pupils to explore what works and doesn’t work to develop and test your ideas across subjects to extend the reach of the initial project, informally test and evaluate its impact.
You can view more information in the Facebook for Educators guide available here.
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