As of March 12, 2024, New York employers are prohibited from requesting or obtaining access to the personal social media accounts of employees and applicants. Specifically, employers are not permitted to require employees or applicants to: (i) disclose their user names, passwords, or log-in information, (ii) access personal accounts in the presence of the employer; or (iii) reproduce any posts, including photos and videos, from personal accounts. In addition, employers may not discharge, discipline, or otherwise penalize an employee or applicant because of their refusal to disclose such information. Continue Reading New York places limitations on employer access to employee social media
Social Media
Virginia Restricts an Employer’s Ability to Require Access to Employees’ Social Media Accounts
This post was written by Gregory J. Sagstetter.
Effective July 1, 2015, Virginia will join the growing list of states (including Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin) that have enacted legislation restricting the circumstances in which an employer can access…
Is Your Social Media Influencer or Blogger an Employee or an Independent Contractor? What Companies Need To Know Before They Engage Bloggers and Other Independent Contractors
With the first quarter of 2015 behind us, many companies are already deeply engaged in social media campaigns. Many of these campaigns include the engagement of professional bloggers or other persons with social media influence to promote corporate brands through social media. These individuals are typically classified as independent contractors, but are they really employees?
NLRB General Counsel Keeps Unfriending Employer Social Media Policies
In a just-released Advice Memorandum found here, the NLRB General Counsel’s office (“GC”) publicized its position that employers must bargain with their unions before implementing new social media policies. The Memo “casually” notes that work rules, such as social media guidelines, provide an independent basis for discipline and are mandatory subjects of bargaining. According to the GC, even if an employer navigates around the ever-increasing landmines set by the Board and GC in developing a social media policy, employers must also seek union approval before implementing the policy, unless, of course, the underlying collective bargaining agreement contains a clear and unmistakable waiver of the union’s right to bargain over such policies.Continue Reading NLRB General Counsel Keeps Unfriending Employer Social Media Policies
Reed Smith’s Jim Burns Discusses Recent NLRB Attacks on Bank Workplace Policies
In a recent article appearing in Illinois Banker magazine, “Beyond Social Media Policies: Have Other Common Employer Policies and Practices Been Struck Down by the National Labor Relations Board,” Reed Smith Chicago partner Jim Burns discusses some of the more aggressive positions that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has taken against certain common workplace…
Employers Take Notice: Scrutinize Your Social Media Policies Now!
NLRB: Employers cannot forbid employees from disparaging their employers and companies.
An NLRB Administrative Law Judge, following the lead of the NLRB from its recent decision in Costco Wholesale Inc., invalidated social media and other employment policies of DISH Network, Inc. Linked here is that decision. The invalidated policies (1) prohibited employees from disparaging the company on social media sites; (2) required preapproval from management before speaking about the company to the media or at public meetings; and (3) limited employee communication with government agencies.Continue Reading Employers Take Notice: Scrutinize Your Social Media Policies Now!
California Bars Employers from Requiring Social Media Passwords
Following the lead of Maryland and Illinois, California is the latest state to stop employers from requesting social media log-in information, such as user names and passwords for Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail, from employees and job applicants. The new law also includes protections from employer retaliation against employees who refuse to provide this personal access…
Employer’s E-Mail System May Become Tool for Union Organizing
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) is expected to issue a ruling shortly on whether employers can lawfully prohibit their employees and unions from using employer-owned e-mail and intranet systems to distribute union campaign materials. An NLRB decision favoring employee and union use of these internal communication avenues for union organizing and other NLRA-protected activities would effectively extend and be the NLRB’s “blessing” of its Acting General Counsel’s social media “rules” and guidelines discussed here and here.Continue Reading Employer’s E-Mail System May Become Tool for Union Organizing
NLRB General Counsel Issues Third Report on Social Media Cases
The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon issued his third report on social media cases handled by the NLRB. Copies of all three memos are available here, here and here, in the order issued. Our previous blog post discussing the second memo can be found here.
The most recent, third report reviews 7 social media policies, finding 6, at least in part, violative of the National Labor Relations Act. Solomon found the seventh policy compliant with the Act and attached that full policy to his memo.
Extracted from the six “violation” cases are the following examples of impermissible elements of social media policies.Continue Reading NLRB General Counsel Issues Third Report on Social Media Cases
Accessing Facebook Through Employers: Is The Juice Worth The Squeeze?
Employers are becoming more aware of the impact of Facebook and the type of information it can reveal. Some employers use Facebook to find background or character information about their employees or job applicants. Other employers use Facebook to find out whether employees have disclosed information about the employer’s business. Some employers are taking it a step further by requesting that job applicants and/or current employees disclose their Facebook user name and password. Other employers are asking applicants and/or employees to "friend" its human resource manager or log into a company computer during interviews to view their Facebook content.
Continue Reading Accessing Facebook Through Employers: Is The Juice Worth The Squeeze?