{"id":15484,"date":"2014-08-07T12:38:35","date_gmt":"2014-08-07T16:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2014\/08\/social-media-is-thorny-for-employers.html"},"modified":"2014-08-07T12:38:35","modified_gmt":"2014-08-07T16:38:35","slug":"social-media-is-thorny-for-employers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2014\/08\/social-media-is-thorny-for-employers\/","title":{"rendered":"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. 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 a
\ncivil lawsuit.<\/p>\n

For example: Imagine that you have just finished
\none of the worst applicant interviews you
\nhave had in your career. You are so astonished
\nthat this person could make it all the way through
\nthe screening process to an interview, that out
\nof curiosity you decide to look at the applicant’s
\nLinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n

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. Until
\na few months later when you receive notice from
\nthe Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
\n(EEOC) that the rejected applicant has filed
\na charge of discrimination, claiming that the
\ncompany decided not to hire him because of his
\nage 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 profile,
\nwhich included both the year he graduated
\nfrom college several decades ago (from which his
\nage can be derived), as well as his current activity
\nas the chair of his local church’s pastoral 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 the
\nEEOC rules on the claim, the applicant can bring
\na private suit against the company), instead of
\nbeing able to make a quick motion to dismiss at
\nthe outset, you may be subject to many months
\nof discovery before being able to get the case
\ndismissed on summary judgment, or even having
\nto 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?<\/p>\n

As an example, imagine that you receive notice
\nthat an employee has been publicly bashing your
\ncompany on her Facebook and Twitter pages, in
\nwhich she identifies herself as an employee of
\nyour company. You review the employee’s posts,
\nwhich include rants such as “This place sucks.
\nAll we want is a dollar raise, but they won’t pay
\nus anything but minimum wage” and “These
\nguys are the biggest bunch of jerks–mandatory
\novertime today for the fourth time this month!”
\nSeveral of the employee’s co-workers have liked,
\nshared, retweeted, and responded to her posts.<\/p>\n

Easy decision, right? Especially where the employee
\ncursed out the company publicly. So you
\nterminate the employee without delay and again, don’t give it another thought, Until a few weeks
\nlater when you receive a notice of charge from
\nthe National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
\nYour 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
\nshould include (and not include) in its social
\nmedia policy; and which employees may post on
\nsocial 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 have
\nalso been developed. For example, in the first
\nscenario, the employer could have had a policy
\nprohibiting such searches, or implementing a
\nsystem where demographic information from
\nsuch a search does not reach the person making
\nthe hiring decision. In the second scenario, the
\nemployer should not have taken action against
\nthe employee when it was clear the employee
\nwas talking about her wages and hours in a forum
\nwith other employees.<\/p>\n

Billok is a labor and employment attorney with
\nBond, Schoeneck & King, Albany.<\/p>\n

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

Michael Billok, labor attorney with Bond, Schoeneck & King in Albany By Michael Billok As an employer, there is no such thing as common sense when it comes to social media. 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