Should I Facebook friend my boss? Should I tweet about work? Can I text coworkers? With the increasing participating in social media, a myriad of questions arise which have legal implications. This article will discuss some areas of liability to consider when you are deciding how and when to use social media.
- Beware of Disclosure of Confidential Information.
Most employers will require you to sign an agreement not to disclose confidential information or trade secrets. You need to be aware that posts about your company’s confidential information, even to a limited audience of Facebook friends, could be considered a disclosure of confidential or trade secret information. If you are in the medical field, be particularly careful not to post about patient information, as this is protected by HIPAA.
- Watch Out for Defamation or Violations of Your Employer’s Policy
In an interesting 2012 case, an Appeals Court Research Attorney was suspended and ultimately fired for a tweet-attack during an ethics hearing for an attorney, where she called him a “douche bag” and indicated she had insider knowledge on how some judges will rule. This highlights the issue that your freedom of speech doesn’t cover speech that is false and harmful, and it may not protect you from termination if you are in violation of an employer’s policy.
- Human Resources May Have Their Eye on You
Many job seekers forget that a company may research your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media accounts. If you have publicly posted information without any restrictions on who can view it, then you will have a difficult time claiming the protections of privacy laws. While it is still illegal for an employer to discriminate against you based on ethnicity, pregnancy, political or religious views (all of which may be discovered from your Facebook account), you may want to limit the information available to potential employers.
- Social Media Posts Can Be Damning Evidence
If you are in any type of litigation, you need to be aware that information posted on social media can be evidence in a case. For example, if a former employer is looking for evidence of your breach of non-compete or non-solicitation provisions, your Facebook page listing a new employer and showing posts soliciting former co-workers to the new employer could be invaluable evidence against you. Another common example would be posts relating to your health to discredit a personal injury case.
If you have questions about how social media could impact your job hunting, current employment, or a current litigation case, feel free to contact an experienced attorney, David Knecht, at davidknechtlaw.com.
