If the employee purposely shares false information, it could be considered harassment, discrimination, retaliation, slander, or defamation. Investigate the problem to see if the employee has violated your anti-harassment or discrimination policies. Although the word gossip has a negative connotation, it can be argued that beneficial gossip exists. For example, when employees share the news that an absent employee has suffered a tragedy in their personal life and take steps to show their due condolences and respect, they engage in a kind of gossip, even if that word is unlikely to be used.
Gossip has a negative connotation, but it's similar to news. Perhaps for this reason the word has little application in the law. More than once, the NLRB has ruled that labor prohibitions on gossip are too broad. More specifically, the prohibition of gossiping in employee handbooks has been found to interfere with employees' right to discuss topics such as wages, hours, labor policies, and safety.
So employers may not be able to prohibit gossip, but managers set the example by limiting workplace gossip as much as possible. Super Lawyers is a service for qualifying outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas that have achieved a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievements. The patented selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. The number provided represents the number of lawyers in the firm who have been selected for the Super Lawyers or Rising Stars lists.
For example, if the news surrounding the break room says that someone did well and was praised for it, gossip can turn that fact into favoritism or a dirty trick. Employees who engage in or incite gossip about the company, an employee, or a customer will receive disciplinary action. More than once, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that the provisions of employee handbooks that completely prohibit gossip are too broad and therefore inapplicable. Managers can set a good example by not participating in gossip and shutting it down whenever possible.
Gossip is an activity that can exhaust, corrupt, distract, and reduce productivity, morale, and overall company satisfaction. The school had a restrictive no-gossip policy that prohibited talking about a person's personal or professional life when the person or their manager was not present. Another case shows how gossip can lead to legal costs, even if the gossip quickly loses in court. If you think the effects of workplace gossip are getting out of hand, you can take action.
In general, defamation occurs when false statements are made about someone, which are presented as true, and result in injury to the subject of the gossip. For example, Peter Vajda, an Atlanta-based speaker and author of a paper on business coaching, defines workplace gossip as a form of violence in the workplace, and points out that it is “essentially a form of attack.” However, some workplace gossip is actually healthy, according to Rieva Lesonsky, executive director of GrowBiz Media, a media and personalized content company for small businesses.
