In a previous blog post, I wrote about reported accounts of employers asking applicants for Facebook passwords. After the initial AP article that inspired that post came out,  there were questions of how many employers actually engaged in the practice (but not the readers of this blog, right?).

Still, the media and legislatures have taken the issue and run, so much so that I thought the topic should be revisited. This week, we’ll look at what legislators are doing about the issue at the federal and state level as well as what you should be doing about it as an employer. First up, we go to Washington, D.C. read more…

Employment law attorney Robert P Tinnin, Jr., answers a reader’s question about restricting employees use of company computers.

Q: I understand the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is considering new limitations on how far an employer can go in controlling employee participation on social media sites. As long as employees are using company-owned equipment, don’t we have the right to impose whatever restrictions we wish?

A: Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), employers have long had the right to bar nonemployees from solicitation and distribution of literature on company premises and restrict employees’ face-to-face solicitations to nonworking time (including breaks) and their distribution of literature to nonworking time and nonworking areas as long as it is not done on a discriminatory basis. In 2007, the NLRB considered whether that standard should be applied to employees’ electronic communications on company-owned computers or whether such communications are more akin to water-cooler conversations. In the Guard Publishing d/b/a Register Guard case, a divided NLRB decided that the restrictions on employees’ electronic solicitations on company-owned computers should be analyzed differently than face-to-face solicitations because of the premise that an employer has the right to control and restrict the use of its property. read more…

Last week, our annual Employers Counsel Network conference came to Nashville, so I got to sit in on the sessions. One of the unexpected themes was iPads, as almost 80 percent of the employment law attorneys showed up with one. Two of the conference speakers — president of Newstex Larry Schwartz and Teresa L. Shulda, attorney with Foulston Siefkin in Wichita, Kansas — spent time talking about their favorite iPad apps for work, including:

1. Dropbox lets you store and share photos, docs, and videos. Any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all devices you have registered with the account, including computers, phones, and iPads as well as the Dropbox website, which you can access from any Internet connection. Shulda offers one caution about using Dropbox: It’s not a good place for confidential or proprietary documents or information because, while the information is encoded, Dropbox — not the user — holds the “encryption key.”
2. CloudOn allows you to access and work in Microsoft applications on your iPad, including red-lined Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint slides.
3. PDFpen allows you to edit  PDF files by adding or editing text (including signatures) and images, filling out interactive PDF forms, searching, adding notes, and more. read more…

A friend of mine works at a local university. Part of her job involves supervising the students who run the information desk in the student center. Last week, she began to notice that she was getting a lot of calls for various departments throughout the school. When the call volume began to increase, and the IT department couldn’t figure out why she was getting calls as if she was the university switchboard, she did a little digging of her own.

Turns out, when you Google the university, her direct office line is listed as the main phone number and the “Call” button sends users directly to her.  While all times are busy at the university, this is a particularly busy time for calls about graduation, applications for next year, summer school classes, and financial aid.

Since I’m not the one getting dozens of extra calls everyday, I think it’s somewhat amusing that the Google algorithms have decided that she is the source to go to for information about the university. Since I can’t help looking at most situations and thinking, “How could I write about that for the tech blog?” I wanted to share this story and the lesson I see that employers can get from it. read more…

Last week, employment law attorney Sara Hutchins Jodka continued our discussion of social media ownership in the workplace by looking at a few cases that have the potential to shape this debate. This week, she outlines what employers can do to protect themselves and the social media accounts associated with the company.

By Sara Hutchins Jodka

While the issues are far from settled, the cases discussed last week are instructive. The more effort you make to protect your information and police how employees use social media sites, the more likely you will be able to argue that your information has monetary value and protect it. If your company invests or is looking to invest in marketing through social media, you should think about taking the following steps to control your social media destiny and protect your social media account ownership. read more…

Last week, we begin exploring the next wave of social media disputes between employers and employees — just who owns an account that an employee sets up and maintains to promote his employer? This week, employment law attorney Sara Hutchins Jodka looks at a few cases that have the potential to shape this debate.

By Sara Hutchins Jodka

With the onslaught of social networking tools, it’s no wonder that social media has become an increasingly popular litigation topic for employers. Courts began addressing the issue by deciding whether social media can be used in lawsuits and whether employees can be terminated because of their Internet postings. Now, the new wave of social media-related litigation is upon us: the fight between employers and employees over who owns social media accounts. More specifically, who owns Twitter “followers,” LinkedIn “connections,” Facebook “friends” or “likes,” and whatever else Silicon Valley has in store?

The issue is pertinent for the increasing number of companies that have a social media presence and update the public on their latest services, products, press releases, events, sales, and the like through Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or other social media. With the number of companies that have a social media presence vastly expanding, more companies will employ people to do their social media marketing for them. This is where potential problems arise, and you can learn from the misfortune of others. read more…

Employment law attorney Donald D. Berner discusses a new issue arising regarding social media and the workplace: Who owns a social media account created and used by an employee in the course of conducting a company’s business?

“We lived on farms, then we lived in cities, and now we’re going to live on the Internet.”

― Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook

Employees’ social media usage (and employers’ responses) have been discussed and debated extensively during the past year. The discussion has been related primarily to discipline and discharge decisions. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has put employer social media policies under the microscope and issued clarifying information about a variety of personnel policies and practices relating to employees’ social media use that it believes run afoul of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Employers can expect continued Board scrutiny and enforcement activity in this area throughout 2012.

What’s Yours Is Ours

The next breaking wave of social media disputes may be litigation between employees and employers about who owns a social media account created and used by an employee in the course of conducting the company’s business. Imagine that one of your employees sets up a Twitter account designed to communicate with your company’s customer base. The employee builds a significant following over a period of a year or two. So what happens when she resigns and takes the account with her by simply changing the login and password information? read more…

This week there have been several articles floating around about the practice of employers asking applicants for their Facebook passwords as part of the interview process. The AP report that seem to start this wave of articles (click here) tells the story of one hopeful job seeker who withdrew his application mid-interview when the interviewer turned to her computer and asked for his Facebook log-in information.

After reading the article, I knew it would be a great topic for a blog post here. I mulled it over for a few days and decided that instead of writing about how legally dangerous this practice is (what happens when you log in to applicants’ Facebook page and find out they are in a protected category?)  I would focus on my gut reaction as an employee to the practice.

For the past few years, the job market has undoubtedly skewed in the favor of employers. Times have been tough, and as one applicant interviewed for the AP story told the reporters about giving up his Facebook password to interviewers, “I needed my job to feed my family. I had to.”  But as the economy improves and the best employees start to look for greener pastures, you are sending a bad message when you ask applicants for their Facebook passwords.

What asking for a Facebook password from an applicants says about working for your company: read more…

Last week, employment law attorney Taylor Chapman discussed the trend of employees who want to use their own electronic devices for work, the real-world concerns associated with the practice, and different approaches employers can take to policies. This week, she discusses the legality of accessing employees’ personal devices and how employers can mitigate the security risk that comes when employees use their own technology at work.

By Taylor Chapman

Legality of Accessing Personal Devices

Your company can manage the risks associated with BYOD by adopting policies and agreements that fit your risk tolerance, trust assessment, and regulatory context. However, the only way to guarantee your right to access all information on a device is to own the device.

In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court held that employers have the right to access all communications on corporate-issued devices. The Court didn’t address a company’s right to access information on personal devices. Therefore, if you want to have access to all communications and data on personal devices used by your employees, you should be aware of the inherent risk in adopting a BYOD policy. read more…

In the first post of two, employment law attorney Taylor Chapman discusses the trend of employees who want to use their own electronic devices for work, the real-world concerns associated with the practice, and different approaches employers can take to policies.

By Taylor Chapman

Bring your own . . . device (BYOD)? A majority of businesses now allow employees to bring their own electronic devices to use at work. With the rapid evolution of technology, this policy has quickly become the go-to standard in most workplaces. However, commingling personal and professional usage, data, and ownership of electronic devices creates challenging legal and security implications. Who owns work-related data on employee-owned devices? The harsh truth is that courts and legislatures have yet to decide that complicated issue.

Whether driven by the younger generation’s need to have the most recent and technologically advanced devices or employers’ attempt to save corporate money, BYOD is the new norm. As the line between business and personal ownership begins to blur, however, corporate security concerns grow. A recent survey by YouGov and Research Now found that 67 percent of surveyed companies had no policies or procedures to manage employees’ use of personal devices for work purposes. If you are one of the 67 percent, you may be headed for trouble. Here’s why. read more…