A lawsuit stemming from a company’s termination over off-duty conduct that went viral on social media is a reminder of the need to properly handle disciplinary actions.
The lawsuit also reflects the increasing trend employers’ are forced to respond to – reacting to social media incidents of employee conduct outside the workplace. It also reflects
Ownership disputes between employers and employees over social media accounts (think Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) are becoming more frequent. This point is highlighted in a wrongful termination lawsuit between Tomi Lahren, a former “reporter” and her employer, TheBlaze. TheBlaze is owned by Glenn Beck. Ms. Lahren was terminated after she made political statements that ran
Employers have a new concern with job offers and social media; In what appears to be a first, a federal court of appeals held an employer could be liable for rescinding a job offer because the prospective employee signed an online petition supporting issues under the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA).
Specifically, in Linkletter v.
Companies focus on maximizing social media strategies to promote the business. This week’s transition between the Obama and Trump administration highlighted numerous social media issues that employers need to pay close attention to concerning business and employee social media issues.
President Barack Obama was the first President to
Last week a former employee working for Yelp’s food delivery unit, Eat 24, was fired for violating the company’s internal “terms of conduct.” The termination came after the customer-service rep, Talia Janes, wrote a critical blog post about her low pay and working conditions in an open letter to Yelp’s CEO. The interesting issue for
An employer illegally fired two employees for criticizing the company on Facebook. This decision comes from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which affirmed a National Labor Relations Board decision (NLRB). Three D, LLC v NLRB (10-21-2015). This decision also highlights the need to meaningfully evaluate conduct giving rise to employee
Employee social media issues recently made headlines in the most deplorable way when an employee was fired on September 29, 2015, after he posted a picture of himself online with a colleague’s 3-year-old black son. The picture taken by Gerod Roth, the former employee, resulted (for reasons unknown) numerous bigoted and racists comments from the
Social media issues in 2014 certainly had a significant impact when it came to employment law issues. And these issues will continue into 2015. But social media issues are not limited to front line employees. Instead, they need to be addressed at every level of the organization – including owners.
Take for example a Metro
A recent social media case involving the NLRB should be cause for celebration for employers. Specifically, in Landry’s Inc., Case No. 32-CA-118213 (June 26, 2014), an NLRB administrative law judge (ALJ) had found a social media policy concerning its subsidiary, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Restaurants, Inc., did not violate the National Labor Relations Act
“Should Companies Monitor Their Employees’ Social Media?” This question was debated by the Wall Street Journal on 5/12/2014.
On one side of the debate was Ms. Nancy Flynn who took the position that companies absolutely must monitor their employees’ social media use, as well as use social media to screen job applicants. Or in her words:
Management has a right and responsibility to monitor how employees are using social media at all times … companies should ask for access to employees’ Facebook accounts and other private social media.
Mr. Lewis Maltby took the contrary view that monitoring employees’ social media use should be the exception. That exception being limited to when it is believed an employee engaged in misconduct and it should not be used to screen job applicants.
The fact is the vast majority of what employees do on the Internet has nothing to do with work, takes place during their private lives and is done on their personal computers … It’s simply too easy to turn social-media searches into fishing expeditions.
Continue Reading Monitoring Employees’ Private Social Media – Putting Together a Sensible Approach