PRIVACY: EMPLOYERS MAY USE WORKER DATA PUBLISHED ONLINE (IL SOLE 24 ORE, 24 NOVEMBER 2014, P. 39)

Employers may use data concerning their employees that are found on social networks. This has been established by the Privacy Authority and the judiciary. In a ruling on 1 August 2014, the Court of Milan held that it is permissible to dismiss a worker who posted photographs on Facebook taken during working hours, accompanied by posts that were offensive to the company. In addition, in Judgment No. 16712/2014, the Criminal Section of the Court of Cassation clarified that it is not necessary that the employee expressly mention the name of the company or the employer. Rather, what matters is whether the latter is recognisable merely to the user’s social-network friends.