NLJ this week: Lineker-Gate & the employer’s right to veto tweets

19 May 2023

Issue: 8025 / Categories: Legal News , Employment , Disciplinary&grievance procedures , Discrimination , Technology

The dispute over football celebrity Gary Lineker’s tweets captured the public imagination and backfired spectacularly on the BBC, but what if Lineker had been an employee? In this week’s NLJ, Charles Pigott, professional support lawyer, Mills & Reeve, looks into whether employers have rights to restrict their employee’s tweets or other private expressions of opinion.

Pigott assesses the ‘weaponry’ at a worker’s disposal, covering unfair dismissal, discrimination law, victimisation, and human rights.

He writes: ‘People as prominent and popular as Gary Lineker can probably look after themselves, but our domestic law arguably provides insufficient protection for individuals to express their personal opinions on social media when these are in conflict with their employer’s interests and do not amount to the expression of protected beliefs.’

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NLJ this week: Lineker-Gate & the employer’s right to veto tweets

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr