by fsse8info [1]
*Social Networking Can Get You Fired*
Social networking has exploded in recent years. Virtually everyone
(even your employer) engages in some sort of social networking
activity. Employers use social networking websites to learn more about
their job applicants, employees, and the individuals who sue them. As
social networking has increased so has the number of employees
terminated for their social networking activities.
Two employees sued their former employer in New Jersey federal court
earlier this year after they were fired for their MySpace activities.
Brian Pietrylo and Doreen Marino created a MySpace forum to vent,
complain, and make fun of their employer and supervisors. Management
learned about the forum and terminated Pietrylo’s and
Marino’s employment for violating the company’s
professionalism policy. The Pietrylo case raised the question of
whether an employer can terminate an employee for private statements
made on a social networking website. Unfortunately, the Pietrylo case
did not answer that question, leaving employees to wonder what social
networking activities can result in termination. While there is not
much clarity in this area, you should be aware of the following if you
engage in social networking activities:
*You should not say or do anything in your social networking
activities that you do not want public. * You must realize that
nothing on the internet is private. That is true even if your
profile is set to private. For instance, I worked on a case where
the plaintiff told his Facebook friends to lie to the EEOC and say
that he was terminated because of his race. The plaintiff’s
page was set to private leading him to believe that his communications
were private. They were not. The EEOC dismissed the case when
it saw the plaintiff’s Facebook page. You should not say or
do anything that you do not want to be publicly available, because
your information or communications can be accessed by current or
potential employers, coworkers, recruitment agencies, government and
law enforcement agencies, among others.
*You should assume that your employer is monitoring your social
networking activities.*Â It would be extremely difficult (if not,
impossible) for an employer to monitor the social networking
activities of all its employees. However, operating under the
assumption that your employer is monitoring your activities will help
you to avoid behavior that could get you fired. That tip may have
saved a National Suisse employee’s job. Earlier this year, a
National Suisse employee told her manager that she had a migraine
headache that prevented her from using her computer. National
Suisse allowed the woman to take a sick day to recuperate. Once
home, the woman logged on to Facebook.  National Suisse
terminated the employee claiming that her behavior destroyed its trust
because her Facebook activity unequivocally showed that she could use
a computer. You should not make any comments, post any pictures,
or engage in behavior that you do not want known by your manager.
*You should monitor what people put on your social networking page and
say about you on the internet. * The internet’s lawlessness
has caused some to equate it with the wild west. The internet is
lawless. You may conduct yourself flawlessly on the internet and
still be harmed by a comment someone else makes on your page or a
picture of you someone else posts. A forklift driver was
terminated when his managers saw a video on YouTube of his at-work
forklift stunts which included performing burnouts, wheelies, and
crashing into stacks of pipes. The video was not posted by the
forklift driver. It was posted by a coworker who filmed the stunts
and thought they were “cool.â€Â You should conduct regular
internet searches to see what information is available about you.Â
You should have negative or derogatory information removed.
*You should not disclose confidential company information.*Â
Employers terminate employees who disclose confidential company
information on social networking websites. Last month,
Barneys’ café terminated an employee for tweeting that an
actress skipped out on her check. The employee did not mention the
restaurant’s name. The employee was never told that he could
not tweet about customers, was not asked to stop tweeting about
customers, and was not previously warned that tweeting about customers
was unacceptable and could result in termination. None of that
stopped Barneys from terminating the employee on his first
offense. You should not disclose your company’s confidential,
private, proprietary, or privileged information on your social
networking website or otherwise.Â
*You should know your company’s policy on social networking.*Â
On September 23, 2009, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics
reported that “social media has caught many employers by
surprise†and company policies have not yet caught up with the
explosion of social media use by their employees. There are some
companies that have social networking policies. Â If your company
has such a policy, you should know what your company says about
acceptable and unacceptable social networking behavior. The lack
of a social networking policy does not prevent you from being
disciplined or terminated. Many companies that do not have formal
social networking policies are using more general company policies to
discipline employees for social networking activities. Companies
often rely on their Confidentiality policy, Inappropriate Conduct
policy, and/or Anti-discrimination policy in addressing
employee’s social networking activities. In fact, two Burger
King executives were terminated for their blog comments. Burger
King did not claim the executives violated a social networking policy;
rather, Burger King claimed that the employees violated company
guidelines that prohibit employees from speaking for the company
outside of official corporate releases, guidelines against disclosing
information about private negotiations, among other guidelines.Â
You should be aware of any company policy that deals with conduct or
the disclosure of information before engaging in social networking
activities.Â
*You should research whether your State has an off-duty conduct
law.*Â Employees can be terminated for virtually any reason
provided the reason is not discriminatory. That general rule is
changing in some States. Some States have enacted laws which
prohibit employers from disciplining or terminating employees for
non-criminal, off-duty conduct. For instance, New York has a legal
activities law that prohibits discrimination against job applicants
and employees who engage in lawful activities during nonworking
hours. For another instance, Colorado has a law that prohibits
employers from terminating employees for lawful off-duty conduct.Â
The off-duty conduct laws have not been tested by an employee who was
terminated for social networking activities. However, those laws
would seem to apply to social networking activities which for the most
part are not criminal. An off-duty conduct law should severely
restrict an employer’s ability to terminate employees for social
networking activities. You should determine if your state has
enacted laws which prohibit discipline or termination for
non-criminal, off-duty conduct. Â
Employees’ social networking activities are increasingly becoming
the basis for discipline and termination. A recent survey found
that 17% of large employers have disciplined employees for social
networking activities and 8% of large employers have terminated
employees for social networking activities. Those numbers will
probably escalate in the future, especially given the growing
popularity of social networking. So, you should continue to
network on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter, but be careful
because your social networking activities can result in discipline, up
to and including your termination.
Shalanda Ballard is an employment defense attorney who has defended
employers in all facets of employment litigation. Ms. Ballard was
named in the National Register's Who's Who and in Law & Politics
Magazine as a Rising Star. She has spoken at continuing legal
education conferences and employment law seminars.
Related Social Network Articles [2]
Links:
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[1] http://www.flickr.com/photos/37031529@N00/4445948682
[2] http://toponlinemarketingtool.com/?cat=
http://toponlinemarketingtool.com/?p=1982
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