by Stephen D. Hans | May 23, 2018 | Social Media Accounts
Where should you draw the lines as employers? A trend exists where employers increasingly allow employees to use their own mobile devices, including laptops, tablets and smart phones, in the workplace to do their jobs. They can use their own devices to access applications and company information, post on social media accounts and send emails or texts related to business. In fact, an acronym has emerged to describe this practice: BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Although technology has advanced quickly, federal and state laws are still in the process of catching up with technology’s advances. What legal issues can exist with BYOD? According to an article published by the American Bar Association, employee privacy is one the main issues associated with BYOD. Because employees have personal information along with company information on their mobile devices, the policies put in place by an employer are vital for a company’s legal protection. This fact was established by a case that the Georgia Court of Appeals heard: Sitton v. Print Direction, Inc. In fact, the employer’s policies were pivotal in determining the court’s ruling. The plaintiff in the lawsuit, a salesperson working for a commercial printing business, used his personal laptop for work, but the also used his laptop to broker some print jobs for his wife’s company, which was also a printer, one of his company’s competitors. Upon hearing about his double use of the computer, the salesman’s CEO went into the employee’s computer and printed emails confirming the fact. The company fired the employee and the employee sued based on the Georgia Computer Systems Protection Act, alleging invasion of privacy....
by Stephen D. Hans | Jun 29, 2014 | Social Media Accounts
Social media is a new legal frontier and laws are pending or being passed to keep pace with this advance in technology. As an employer, is it legal to ask employees or job applicants for their social media user names and passwords? The NY legislature proposed a bill that addresses this question. As of May, 2014, A.B. 433 is sitting with the Senate Committee on Labor, and if passed, the bill would prohibit employers from asking employees or job applicants for their social media passwords. Despite the fact no NY statute currently prohibits employers from asking for social media passwords, the New York State Bar Association advises employers against it. The NYBA cites various case rulings that favored employees’ privacy rights over employers’ attempts to discover possible defamation or trade secrets violations. Here are some cases in point: Pietrylo v. Hillstone Restaurant Group (2009). After requesting Pietrylo’s login username and password, the manager at Hillstone Restaurant repeatedly accessed her MySpace chat room accounts. Pietrylo felt her job was in jeopardy if she refused to provide the login information, and the court viewed the employer’s actions as coerced authorization or authorization “provided under pressure.” Also, because MySpace makes it clearly known that the site is private and only gives access to invited members, the court decided the employer’s actions violated public policy. It ruled the defendant unlawfully accessed the plaintiff’s social media account. Pure Power Boot Camp, Inc. v. Warrior Fitness Boot Camp, LLC (2008). The District Court for the Southern District of New York addressed the issue of whether an employer accessed the defendant’s private Gmails and Hotmail emails...
by Stephen D. Hans | Oct 10, 2013 | Social Media Accounts, Uncategorized
In 2012, state legislatures started introducing laws to restrict employers from obtaining user names and passwords to employees’ personal and private social media accounts. As 2013 rolls forward, the trend is continuing with proposed legislation 26 states . Twelve states already have such laws in place enacted since the beginning of 2012. Champions of keeping employers out of employee’s personal social media accounts site privacy as the issue and claim that employer’s concerns about protecting proprietary company information is already covered by other laws. Further they claim that employers screening social media accounts of job applicants are dancing dangerously close to discrimination issues, which is expressly illegal. Businesses are fighting back and state that the new laws keeping them out of employee’s social media accounts provide a venue for employees to divulge proprietary information and inhibit their ability to investigate such matters. Some states, are trying to add amendments to allow companies to require access to personal digital accounts when investigating allegations that the employee has given away proprietary company information or has engaged in other forms of workplace misconduct In Colorado, employers can request access to their employees’ personal accounts when investigating reported breaches of compliance, regulatory and securities laws; and company proprietary information or financial data However, it is clear in the Colorado law that fishing expeditions are forbidden and the employer must have supporting information to pursue this avenue of investigation—and fines can be assessed against employers for violations. The states and legal guidance States with such laws already on the books include: • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Delaware • Illinois • Maryland • ...
by Stephen D. Hans | Mar 29, 2012 | Social Media Accounts
Author: Stephen D. Hans, Hans & Associates, P.C. As Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn become integrated with doing business, companies and employees need to think about legal implications. Is your activity on a Twitter account proprietary to the company? Can a company file a lawsuit against employees who take their company Twitter followers with them when they leave? PhoneDog v. Kravitz A CNN article reported about a case called PhoneDog vs. Kravitz. According to the article, PhoneDog employed Kravitz from 2006 through 2010. Kravitz acquired 17,000 Twitter followers while working for PhoneDog using the account name @PhoneDog_Noah. When he left the company, he switched the account name to @noahkravitz and used the account to share information written for other tech sites. PhoneDog claimed that since it had helped Kravitz establish his online identity, it was entitled to damages of $2.50 per month for every Twitter account Kravitz took with him. Kravitz argued that PhoneDog agreed to have the account remain his account when he left and even sent out messages to followers to that effect. The federal judge hearing the case ruled that the case could move forward. We still wait to see the outcome. Benefit from an employment lawyer’s knowledge and experience As companies consider adopting social media policies, and courts establish precedents that involve social networking, it is important to seek legal guidance. An experienced New York employment lawyer can provide Human Resources consulting, work with you on devising appropriate company polices for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media...