The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) continues to issue rulings regarding employee use of social media in the workplace. As detailed in many prior posts, the NLRB enforces the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) which covers employers (unionized or not). As described in those prior posts, the NLRB often finds that employees who post comments…
Social Media and the Law
Can Employers Require Employee Engagement/Advocacy?
Employee advocacy and/or engagement has been all the rage for a few years now. It makes sense. Having a fleet of employees engaged in social media to promote their employer is a tremendous asset. Most of those employees willingly participate, share, “like” and otherwise promote their employers on social media. However, what if an employee…
Social Media Evidence in Workplace Investigations: Snapchat Challenges
Most people use social media platforms to send messages to a large audience and to memorialize events through comments, pictures, and videos. Indeed, businesses push for more and longer exposure, better “SEO”, and more employee engagement with social media to promote the business on Facebook, Instragram, YouTube and other platforms. Snapchat, however, is unlike those…
U.S. EEOC Recognizes Social Media’s Role In Workplace Harassment
Even though sexual harassment in the workplace has been prohibited by a federal law for thirty years, recently the United States has had several highly publicized sexual harassment complaints at very well-known employers including a public university (University of California, Berkeley), a national news organization (Fox News), a national park (Yosemite National Park), and a…
Top Reasons Employees Use Social Media At Work
It is no secret that social media is accessible almost everywhere, and each day millions of people are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms. While most only assumed that employees were also using social media while at work (even when their employers may have policies prohibiting such use at work), a recent…
Who Owns LinkedIn Group Page Information: Employer or Employee?
Litigation is usually not an enjoyable process for any party in the lawsuit. And, it is even more frustrating when litigation could have been avoided with some simple pre-planning and attention to details. This is particularly true with respect to litigation regarding ownership of social media contacts, profiles, and groups. Take for example the recent…
Employee Fired For Facebook Photos; Loses Court Case
A man in Florida lost his job because he went on vacation. After he sued his employer, he also lost his lawsuit. His Facebook photos were at the center of his lawsuit, and the employer was found to have acted lawfully. Here is what the employee did wrong, and what the employer did right: Background:…
3 Necessary Steps to Protect Your Trademarks on Social Media
Your intellectual property sets your company apart from its competitors. Your name, logo, website, marketing materials, and business strategy are therefore amongst your valuable most assets. But are they protected from social media legal risks? Startups, websites, and applications are being created faster than any time in history. These new competitors are looking to find…
Firing an Employee for Something Friends Posted on Facebook?
It is no longer uncommon to see articles and blog posts about employees who have lost their jobs due to a foolish Facebook post; unprofessional behavior shared on a YouTube video or other social media mishap. Recently, however, an employee in Atlanta, Georgia was not fired for his own Facebook post of a picture, but…
Social Media Legal Risks for Financial Institutions
A financial institution’s social media engagement can attract new customers and increases community engagement, but it can create exposure to serious legal risks. Without implementing a social media risk management program, financial institutions can experience compliance and legal risk that can result in lawsuits, regulatory investigations audits, and enforcement actions. This can significantly impact the…
How Do Advertising Laws Apply to Social Media?
Consumers spend time on Facebook than any other website on the planet. More than Google. More than Yahoo! It therefore follows that we should be engaging consumers by promoting our products and services on social media. It’s no secret that by engaging consumers through social media promotions, we can grow our social influence and reach,…
Do You Have Legal Consent to Post Employee Photos on Company Websites or Social Media?
Do you have legal consent posting employee pictures on company websites or social media? Publishing employee photos without consent might be against the law. Read on for the reasons why. Smart companies take a holistic approach to their social media marketing efforts. With so much emphasis these days on harnessing employees to promote their employers…
The Legal Risk and Reward of Using Social Media
My grandfather once told me that everything good in life could also be bad. That there are two sides to every coin. And how it all depends on your perspective. Okay, I just made that up. My grandfather mostly talked about how in his day, he had to walk to school, barefoot, in the snow,…
BEWARE! How To Get Fired For LinkedIn Activities
Do you have a LinkedIn profile? If so, do you update it regularly? Do you participate in LinkedIn Group discussions and publish posts on LinkedIn? Do you perform these activities because YOU want to, or because your employer wants you to? If you are an active user of LinkedIn because your employer requires, or highly…
How Social Media Affects the Law
Social media is destroying the legal system. It is tearing at the fabric of our laws. Manipulating our fundamental rights. And eroding our justice system. In five years it will cause the downfall of society, trigger the apocalypse, and set forth a series of catastrophic events that will destroy our planet. Okay, maybe that was…
Firing Employee Who Made Vulgar Posts Violated the Law
Pier Sixty, LLC is a catering company in Manhattan, New York. Not too long ago, some of Pier Sixty’s employees were concerned that company management repeatedly treated them disrespectfully and in an undignified manner. As a result, the employees began to express interest in union representation. On October 25, 2011, Hernan Perez, an employee of…
Employee Fired After Facebook Posts Claiming Sexual Harassment
In 2014, the United States Supreme Court declined to review an interesting case involving an employee who was fired after she posted on Facebook that her supervisor “needs to keep his creepy [sic] hands to himself…just an all around d-bag.” After she made this, and a few other posts on Facebook, Sara Debord’s comments were…
Employees’ Tweets Lead to FTC Enforcement
On November 25, 2014, the United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) proposed consent orders regarding two companies who allegedly mislead consumers. Specifically, the FTC alleged that Sony Computer Entertainment America (“Sony”) and Deutsch LA (Sony’s advertising agency for the PS Vita game console launch), misled consumers with deceptive product endorsements for the PS Vita. …
Employer vs. Employee: Ownership of LinkedIn Contacts
Recently, someone suggested to me that an employee’s LinkedIn contacts could be considered company property and even a protected trade secret of the employer. And, therefore, when an employee, who has previously been given access to this contact information, leaves the employer, the employee is required to relinquish those contacts, and perhaps the entire LinkedIn…
Cell Phone Expenses: Next Wave of Employee Class Action Lawsuit?
A new breed of class action lawsuit involving employee use of personal cell phones for work is developing in California and may “go viral.” California is often known as the birthplace of many new trends that eventually spread throughout the country. Of course, many social media companies are based in California, and high-tech gadgets are…
5 Employment Law Considerations for Employee Advocacy
Recognizing that their own employees are often their best ambassadors, businesses in many industries have been focusing on “employee advocacy” for marketing, business development and public relations. Neal Schaffer has written about, and provided excellent insight into, developing employee advocacy strategies. Other authors have also written about employee advocacy, however, rarely do these articles discuss…
US Supreme Court Case Impacts Social Media and Employment Law
Back in February 2013, I wrote about an appellate court that ruled that President Obama’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) were unconstitutional. That case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court, and on June 26, 2014, the Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of National Labor Relations Board v….
The Biggest Social Media Risk for Employers
Is your business, or your employer, proactively addressing the most significant risks regarding the misuse of social media in the workplace? Results from a recent survey of more than 110 businesses from around the world confirm some widely-held beliefs about how employers are dealing with social media in the workplace. Importantly, the survey also revealed…
The U.S. EEOC Turns Its Attention To Social Media in the Workplace
The law surrounding social media in the workplace still lags a long way behind the ubiquitous use of social media. While the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, and a few state legislatures and courts have been fairly active, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) is only now, finally, openly examining the many legal issues regarding…
Can "Social Media" and "Confidentiality" Co-exist in the Workplace?
By its definition, “social media” focuses on communication, spreading the word, engaging readers, sharing, creating discussion and/or gaining attention. And, humans have striven to perfect and master communication with others for centuries. Even Wikipedia’s explanation of “social media” points out that “one of the first signs of human social media was cave wall paintings.” Today,…
Employers and Employees Could Be Liable For Texting On The Job
Texting, like email, Facebook posts and videos can get employees and employers into trouble. The most common situations involve harassment, discrimination, and violations of confidentiality provisions. However, because of a recent lawsuit in New Jersey, anyone who texts or emails another individual should now beware of the potential of being held liable when a recipient…
New Password Protection Laws In the Workplace
Did you know that a new social media password protection law went into effect on October 1, 2013? And, do you know that two more similar laws will go into effect December 1, 2013 and January 1, 2014? These new laws apply to employers and employees in the states of Nevada, New Jersey, and Oregon,…
Social Media in the Workplace: 5 Reasons to Not Friend Co-Workers
Can you ever have too many “friends?” The answer is “yes,” if you indiscriminately accept and/or initiate friend requests with your co-workers and supervisors on your personal social media accounts. Companies too, should counsel managers and supervisors regarding some of the pitfalls in “friending” co-workers, and especially subordinates. In my post of January 9, 2013,…
5 Tips On Job Transitions and Social Media Profile Management
Advice for Employers and Employees on Social Media Profile Management when Changing Jobs Last month, I wrote about some social media issues employees and employers face concerning non-solicitation agreements when an employee leaves one company and joins another. In those situations, the departing employee is typically excited about his or her new job, and is…
Social Media in the Workplace: 6 Tips Regarding Non-Solicitation Agreements
Companies want to protect their assets, including their trade secrets, their client/customer lists, and the company’s most important asset: its own workforce. Companies invest significant resources to on-board new employees, put them through orientations, training sessions, retreats, and of course, provide them with salaries, commissions, benefits and other perks. They also become privy to confidential…
Where Does Information Disclosure Start and End in Social Media?
Social media is driving more content to virtually every digital nook and cranny around the globe, with the velocity of a fire hose on a lit match. So it’s only ironic that the U.S. government recently called a well-known corporate executive on the carpet for disclosing (actually more like gushing) some positive news on Facebook…
Employers: More Employees With Personal Mobile Devices Means More Problems In The Workplace
Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone. Shoppers are buying Smartphones, mini iPads, iPhones, Kindle Fires, and other gadgets at a record pace. But what happens when employees decide to bring these shiny new toys into the workplace to show their friends and coworkers? Worse, what happens when an employee tries to use…
Employers: New California Law and New NLRB Decision On Social Media
September was a rather busy month for new developments regarding social media in the workplace. In early September, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued its decision regarding various employee policies of Costco Wholesale Corp. This is the first time the NLRB has issued a decision on many policies that typically appear in a company’s…
Social Media Privacy in The Workplace: Is There Any?
But what about my right to privacy? Employment lawyers hear this question a lot. We hear it when an employee is being questioned about his internet use at work. We hear it when an employee gets caught posting about how much fun it is being at a baseball game on a day she called in…
From Ill-Advised to Illegal: Employers Face New Laws On Social Media Monitoring
Everyday, things are getting more and more complicated out there for employers. As you may recall (indeed, how could you forget?), earlier this year the media shined a bright spotlight on a small number of employers (and I truly mean just a small few) who were reportedly asking for social media passwords from job seekers,…
Employers Be Cautious Using Social Media To Screen Job Applicants
Recently, there has been “much ado” over some employers seeking Facebook password and login information from job applicants. While this practice just recently caught the media’s attention, the reality is employers have been using social media to investigate job applicants for years. For example, in 2011, Reppler, a social media monitoring service, conducted a survey…
More Thoughts on "Does My Employer Own My LinkedIn Profile?"
Since I posted about the topic of who owns what in social media from the perspective of an employee’s LinkedIn profile, I have been humbled by both the number of people visiting my blog as well as others that have re-tweeted about my blog on Twitter and elsewhere. Based on the comments I have received…
My LinkedIn Profile: Does My Employer Own It?
The following story of LinkedIn Profile ownership is a true one, and as with my other blog posts, I am hoping to get your feedback as to what the “right” answer to this question should be. Imagine that you began a job as a recruiter. Part of your job is, obviously, building out a network….