BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS / Šturma, Mozetic (eds)

the employee’s behaviour exceeded any standards the labour law lays down. This legal opinion was supported by another judgment in August 2014. 45 Despite the lack of court decisions, employees should use the internet reasonably and responsibly. Simply put, there are certain fundamental duties on the employee side that cannot be ignored such as one’s duty to work during one’s working hours. 46 In contrast, the Slovak Local Court in Bratislava, when confronted with almost the same critical facts, ruled differently, and Polish experts totally refuse secret monitoring. 47 This opinion has been supported by Polish administrative courts. 48 In the Slovak case (file number 14C/134/2009) an employer dismissed an employee for spending a considerable amount of working time on Facebook. The employee argued that she used Facebook for professional purposes as it was a more effective means of communicating with contractors. In the Czech case mentioned above, the employee was said to have spent 102.97 hours looking at internet pages that were unconnected to the work performed, while the Slovak employee spent 31.5 hours searching the internet. 49 Surprisingly, these figures were of no importance. The court held that the dismissal was unlawful because the employee was never warned by the employer about the extent to which internet use was permitted. In another Slovak case, an employee was dismissed for using the firm’s email for personal communication and for chatting with other co-workers for a considerable part of the working day. As the employer had instituted internal guidelines that included restrictions on the use of the internet and the employer’s right to monitor the employees, the court held that the dismissal was lawful. 50 7. Conclusion The group of ‘Facebook fired’ is increasing exponentially 51 not only in the USA but also in Central and Eastern Europe. Not only must employers decide if the use of social media outweighs the potential for negative impacts; legislatures and employers are also facing the need to develop social media policies and regulations that allow society and companies to reap the positive benefits of social media use while minimizing the negative effects. 45 See Decision 7 August 2014, file number 21 Cdo 747/2013. 46 Of course, it is clear that this monitoring breached data privacy, and the employer could be fined by the respective administrative agency. 47 FLOREK, L. (ed.): Kodeks pracy. Komentarz, 5 th Edition, Warszawa: Lex and Wolters Kluwer business, 2009, p. 90. 48 See Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny w Warszawie file number II SA/Wa 453/12 and the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision file number I OSK 2436/12. 49 According to the employer, she spent her working time on pages like www.facebook.com, www. hokejportal.sk, www.mailbook.com, www.ticketportal.sk, or www.nhltv.com. 50 See KOTIRA, P., HORNACEK, V.: Kontrola e-mailovej komunikacie zamestnancov podla právnych úprav ve vybraných členských štátov EÚ. In: BARANCOVA, H. (ed.): Monitorovanie zamestnancov a právo na sukromný život , Bratislava 2010, pp. 127-144. 51 For Poland compare two well-known cases: http://poznan.wyborcza.pl/poznan/1,36037,19210273,ewa- wojciak-nie-zlamala-prawa-piszac-o-papiezu-na-facebooku.html and http://wyborcza.pl/1,76842,8689677, Zwolniona_przez_Facebooka__Skieruje_sprawe_do_sadu.html (Accessed 1 April 2018).

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