Arbetstagarens yttrandefrihet, sociala medier och saklig grund för uppsägning
(2012) JURM02 20122Department of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- The starting point for this essay is the employee's use of social media and the new types of conflicts that may arise from that use, in relation to the employer or between employees. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the law in relation to the employee's freedom of expression in social media. It also aims to investigate what possibilities the employer has to prevent and control various undesirable uses or abuse. The subject raises issues not only concerning the employee's freedom of expression and its limitations with the employee's duty of loyalty but also issues relating to the employer's supervision law and the employee's employment protection. The concept of freedom of expression is a multifaceted and sometimes elusive... (More)
- The starting point for this essay is the employee's use of social media and the new types of conflicts that may arise from that use, in relation to the employer or between employees. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the law in relation to the employee's freedom of expression in social media. It also aims to investigate what possibilities the employer has to prevent and control various undesirable uses or abuse. The subject raises issues not only concerning the employee's freedom of expression and its limitations with the employee's duty of loyalty but also issues relating to the employer's supervision law and the employee's employment protection. The concept of freedom of expression is a multifaceted and sometimes elusive concept. Ultimately, freedom of expression is about the right to express thoughts, feelings and opinions. An employee’s freedom of expression can be understood as a universal human right that is protected by the European Convention, inter alia. Also the Swedish Constitution recognizes public servants’ freedom of expression. With regard to employees' freedom of expression in relation to the employer, we have to distinguish between public and private employees. Civil servants' freedom of expression is regulated solely by the Constitution and enjoys a very strong protection. Contractual restrictions on freedom of expression is considered to be overruled by the constitutionally protected freedom of expression. The employer's ability to take action against an employee in the public sector who make use of the constitutionally protected freedom of expression is severely curtailed, and the employer may not by dismissal, layoffs, exclusion from duties or social sanctions to try to persuade a worker to refrain from exercising their constitutionally protected freedom of expression. The situation is different in the private sector. Private employees are not covered by the constitutional protection of freedom of expression and here the employee's duty of loyalty instead take precedence over freedom of expression. The employee still has freedom of expression but in the private sector this freedom is balanced against the employees duty to be loyal towards the employer. Although the Constitution does not include private employees, Sweden has through international obligations certain obligations to ensure freedom of expression even in the relationship between individuals. How far this duty extends is unclear. The regulation of the Swedish employment protection puts an ultimate limit on the employee's freedom of expression in both the public and the private sector. While private sector employees are not covered by the constitutionally protected freedom of expression, private employees can be considered to have an indirect protection for freedom of expression through the employment protection act. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/3359420
- author
- Svensson, Johan LU
- supervisor
-
- Per Norberg LU
- organization
- alternative title
- Employee freedom of speech, social media and dismissal
- course
- JURM02 20122
- year
- 2012
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- employee freedom of speech, dismissal, social media
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 3359420
- date added to LUP
- 2013-02-18 13:32:09
- date last changed
- 2013-02-18 13:32:09
@misc{3359420,
abstract = {{The starting point for this essay is the employee's use of social media and the new types of conflicts that may arise from that use, in relation to the employer or between employees. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the law in relation to the employee's freedom of expression in social media. It also aims to investigate what possibilities the employer has to prevent and control various undesirable uses or abuse. The subject raises issues not only concerning the employee's freedom of expression and its limitations with the employee's duty of loyalty but also issues relating to the employer's supervision law and the employee's employment protection. The concept of freedom of expression is a multifaceted and sometimes elusive concept. Ultimately, freedom of expression is about the right to express thoughts, feelings and opinions. An employee’s freedom of expression can be understood as a universal human right that is protected by the European Convention, inter alia. Also the Swedish Constitution recognizes public servants’ freedom of expression. With regard to employees' freedom of expression in relation to the employer, we have to distinguish between public and private employees. Civil servants' freedom of expression is regulated solely by the Constitution and enjoys a very strong protection. Contractual restrictions on freedom of expression is considered to be overruled by the constitutionally protected freedom of expression. The employer's ability to take action against an employee in the public sector who make use of the constitutionally protected freedom of expression is severely curtailed, and the employer may not by dismissal, layoffs, exclusion from duties or social sanctions to try to persuade a worker to refrain from exercising their constitutionally protected freedom of expression. The situation is different in the private sector. Private employees are not covered by the constitutional protection of freedom of expression and here the employee's duty of loyalty instead take precedence over freedom of expression. The employee still has freedom of expression but in the private sector this freedom is balanced against the employees duty to be loyal towards the employer. Although the Constitution does not include private employees, Sweden has through international obligations certain obligations to ensure freedom of expression even in the relationship between individuals. How far this duty extends is unclear. The regulation of the Swedish employment protection puts an ultimate limit on the employee's freedom of expression in both the public and the private sector. While private sector employees are not covered by the constitutionally protected freedom of expression, private employees can be considered to have an indirect protection for freedom of expression through the employment protection act.}},
author = {{Svensson, Johan}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Arbetstagarens yttrandefrihet, sociala medier och saklig grund för uppsägning}},
year = {{2012}},
}