{"id":15534,"date":"2014-08-13T14:45:15","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T18:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2014\/08\/social-media-is-thorny-for-employers.html"},"modified":"2014-08-13T14:45:15","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T18:45:15","slug":"social-media-is-thorny-for-employers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2014\/08\/social-media-is-thorny-for-employers\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Report: Social Media Is Thorny For Employers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\"michael\n<\/div>\n
Michael Billok, labor attorney with Bond, Schoeneck & King in Albany\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By Michael Billok<\/p>\n

As an employer, there is no such thing as
\ncommon sense when it comes to social media.<\/p>\n

The technology has evolved so fast, and the
\nlegal issues surrounding that technology have
\ndeveloped so rapidly, that unfortunately it is
\nvery easy for an innocent misstep to place you
\non the wrong side of a federal investigation or
\na civil lawsuit.<\/p>\n

For example: Imagine that you have just
\nfinished one of the worst applicant interviews
\nyou have had in your career. You are so astonished
\nthat this person could make it all the way
\nthrough the screening process to an interview,
\nthat out of curiosity you decide to look at the
\napplicant’s LinkedIn profile. You read the applicant’s self-aggrandizement
\non his profile for a few minutes, close the browser
\nwindow, and don’t give it another thought.
\nUntil a few months later when you receive notice
\nfrom the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
\n(EEOC) that the rejected applicant has
\nfiled a charge of discrimination, claiming that
\nthe company decided not to hire him because
\nof his age and religion.<\/p>\n

How could this happen? Well, LinkedIn lets
\nusers know who has viewed their profile, so the
\nrejected applicant knew that you viewed his
\nprofile, which included both the year he graduated
\nfrom college several decades ago (from
\nwhich his age can be derived), as well as his
\ncurrent activity as the chair of his local church’s
\npastoral council.<\/p>\n

You therefore cannot claim in your defense–
\nas you would have been able to if you had never
\nseen his LinkedIn profile–that you did not
\nknow his age or religion. As a result, if this case
\nproceeds to litigation (and regardless of how
\nthe EEOC rules on the claim, the applicant
\ncan bring a private suit against the company),
\ninstead of being able to make a quick motion
\nto dismiss at the outset, you may be subject to
\nmany months of discovery before being able to
\nget the case dismissed on summary judgment,
\nor even having to go to trial.<\/p>\n

That is an example of a clear-cut employment
\ndecision–not hiring an applicant because he
\npresented terribly during an interview–that became
\nmuddied due to the interviewer’s decision
\nto review the applicant’s social media accounts.<\/p>\n

But what about cases where an employer
\nactually does want to take action because of an
\nemployee’s social media activity?
\nAs an example, imagine that you receive
\nnotice that an employee has been publicly
\nbashing your company on her Facebook and
\nTwitter pages, in which she identifies herself as
\nan employee of your company. You review the
\nemployee’s posts, which include rants such as
\n“This place sucks. All we want is a dollar raise, but
\nthey won’t pay us anything but minimum
\nwage” and “These guys are the biggest bunch of
\njerks–mandatory overtime today for the fourth
\ntime this month!” Several of the employee’s
\nco-workers have liked, shared, retweeted, and
\nresponded to her posts.<\/p>\n

Easy decision, right? Especially where the
\nemployee cursed out the company publicly.
\nSo you terminate the employee without delay
\nand again, don’t give it another thought, Until
\na few weeks later when you receive a notice of
\ncharge from the National Labor Relations Board
\n(NLRB).<\/p>\n

Your first reaction is, why the NLRB is
\ninvolved, when your company isn’t even unionized?
\nHowever, you quickly learn that the federal
\nNational Labor Relations Act applies to all
\nworkplaces–both union and non-union–and
\nthat the NLRB lately has been focusing its enforcement
\nefforts on non-union workplaces like
\nyours that terminate employees based on their
\nsocial media posts.<\/p>\n

You also learn that the Act makes it unlawful
\nto terminate employees for engaging in “protected,
\nconcerted activities”–that is, actions
\nin which employees try to work together as a
\ngroup to improve their terms and conditions of
\nemployment, such as hours and wages. So while
\nthe employee used disparaging language, she did
\nit while engaging in activity protected by the Act,
\nand therefore the NLRB likely would order the
\nemployee reinstated with back pay.<\/p>\n

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg.
\nSocial media presents a thicket of thorns for employers
\nto navigate, from those scenarios above
\nto employers that attempt to view employees’
\nprivate pages and accounts; what an employer should include (and not include) in its social
\nmedia policy; and which employees may post
\non social media on behalf of the employer–and
\nwhat happens to those social media accounts
\nwhen those employees leave.<\/p>\n

As these issues have developed, solutions
\nhave also been developed. For example, in the
\nfirst scenario, the employer could have had a
\npolicy prohibiting such searches, or implementing
\na system where demographic information
\nfrom such a search does not reach the person
\nmaking the hiring decision. In the second
\nscenario, the employer should not have taken action against the employee when it was clear
\nthe employee was talking about her wages and
\nhours in a forum with other employees.<\/p>\n

It is impossible to list all of the solutions–or
\neven all of the potential issues–regarding social
\nmedia in employment in a single column.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, however, this has provided some
\nhelpful information to you about potential social
\nmedia issues that you may wish to review in your
\nworkplace. And now you know to tread carefully.
\nThere are thorns about.<\/p>\n

Billok is a labor and employment attorney
\nwith Bond, Schoeneck & King, Albany.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo Courtesy Bond, Schoeneck & King<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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