MORE LITIGATION FROM MISUSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA - Social media policies are becoming increasingly common in the workplace as more and more cases emerge of litigation against an employer or employee arising from the misuse of such media. Ireland has one of the highest penetrations of social media users in Europe and the numbers are growing, according to the most recent data.
Melanie Crowley, a partner in employment law with Mason, Hayes and Curran, says such policies are becoming increasingly common as it is important to set out where it can be used and to know what an employee can monitor. "Also the question arises as to who owns the content on Twitter and LinkedIn. From that perspective, a policy is very important and increasingly common in use," Melanie Crowley says.
There are hundreds of examples of people being dismissed by their employers for their practices online, Ms Crowley says. "Employees think posting something is private but they forget that 25% of the billion users on Facebook have no privacy settings," she adds. Ms Crowley points out that employers have an obligation to their employees when it comes to the area of cyberbullying. "The responsibility to an employee extends beyond the four walls of the workplace and beyond the 9 to 5 nature of work. It extends to how employees treat, or mistreat, each other on social media,'' she states.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Dublin listed exploration company Kenmare Resources has reported profit after tax of $49.5m for 2012. Revenues of almost $235m were recorded for the year. Kenmare operates the Moma Titanium Minerals mine in Mozambique.
*** Dublin based Zamano - a provider of applications and services to mobile devices - has announced an operating profit of €2.5m, compared to a loss of €333,000 in 2011. Revenues of €19m were up 28% on 2011.
*** BlackBerry shares closed 14% higher on the Nasdaq last night fuelled by takeover speculation. That was sparked by a comment from the head of China's Lenovo Group, who told a French newspaper that the personal computer maker might consider an acquisition of BlackBerry at some point in the future. The Canadian company was a smartphone pioneer which has shed market share to Apple's iPhone, the Samsung Galaxy and other devices powered by Google's Android operating system. BlackBerry introduced a new smartphone to the market in January which will be distributed in the US by AT&T later this month.
+++ Bloomberg has concluded that the biggest gold sales by investors on record may be evidence that bullion's longest rally since the end of World War 1 is ending. Gold had its worst start to the year in a quarter century, it said. Investors sold 106.2 metric tons valued at $5.4 billion from exchange traded products in February. Both Credit Suisse and Barclays have said that the 12-year rally will peak in 2013.
