justice recalls the obligation of loyalty of employees vis-à-vis their company

You have to be very careful when posting professional information on social networks. The Paris Court of Appeal has just confirmed the dismissal of an employee who disclosed sensitive information there. And yet the employee in question defended himself by saying that what he had published on Linkedin – 18 million users in France – was only a vulgar poster, displayed on the premises of the company, as reported the human resources site Actuel RH (article reserved for subscribers). A poster which certainly represented an engine, but which displayed nothing specific, no parameters or scale. So unusable as is. Problem, this employee is a project manager in the research and development sector, in a company in the national defense sector.

This explains the severity of the judges. After the publication of this message on Linkedin, the employee was subject to a disciplinary dismissal. Dismissal that he contested and on which the judges of the Paris Court of Appeal have just ruled. For them, there is no doubt that an employee is always required to respect his obligation of loyalty to his employer for the duration of his employment contract. He cannot therefore disclose to third parties information of which he is aware and which could harm the smooth running of the company. The said company which judged that the diffusion of images of cuts of an engine was suspected of being used by competitors.

This decision of the Paris Court of Appeal can set a precedent. For the judges, it does not matter that this information was freely accessible – in this case in the form of a poster – and that it was not likely to be exploited. The judges believe that these images were not intended for publication on a social network and that the employee used them without verifying that he had the right to do so. We often want to do well by demonstrating our professional skills on Linkedin, we seek to distinguish ourselves. Be careful not to violate the obligation of confidentiality which applies to all employees

A similar case had also concerned Facebook. An employee had posted there the photo of the parade of the new collection of his fashion company. The photo could only be seen by the employee’s 200 friends. That was enough for the judges to find that the employee had breached his confidentiality clause and to confirm his dismissal.