HNB’s attempt to block social websites from employees misfires
A leading bank’s attempt to control Facebook comments on employee issues appears to have misfired with the issue of an enjoining order by the Colombo District Court this week.
Hearing a petition filed by the Ceylon Bank Employees Union (CBEU), the court issued an enjoining order against the implementation of the social media policy introduced by the Hatton National bank (HNB).
This policy prohibits its employees to access the social media network threatening them that the management will take disciplinary action leading to summary dismissal against those who violate the policy directives.
According to the social media policy, the bank reserves the right to withdraw permission granted to employees to use social media web sites before 8 am or after 5 pm.
The HNB also reserved the right to monitor the use of those web sites and prohibit the employees from discussing with colleagues, customers or suppliers or suppliers.
The policy also indicates that access to social media is only a privilege given by the bank to its employees, and not a right of the employees and the permission given to them to use it can be withdrawn by the bank any time, a CBEU leader said.
Under this set up any employee can be found liable by the bank at any time, and as a result of it the HNB Human Resource Division has taken disciplinary action against four employees of the bank for making comments on Facebook, he added.
In these circumstances the CBEU filed a petition urging court to restrain the HNB action.
The court upheld the submissions made by Harsha Soza, PC who appeared for the CBEU and said these social media policy guidelines affect the rights to free thinking, freedom of conscience, religious freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of language, social freedom and so forth which are conferred on the people by the supreme constitution.
District Judge T.D. Gunasekera upholding the submissions made by the union restrained the bank from imposing the ban on access to social media by its employees for 14 days and fixed the date of trial for November 6.