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Showing 13 posts in Internet & Media Law.
This Party is BYOD, Part Two
The discussion in the last post focused on reasons for allowing BYOD in the work place and some traps to watch out for, which continues below. More >
This Party is BYOD, Part One
The word you’re looking for is “ubiquity.” It describes the near-total assimilation of technology into every aspect of our lives. The words “cell phone” are falling by the wayside as the words “smart phone” take their place, and soon enough the word “phone” might be dropped altogether as a relic of a time when people used them primarily (and ever so quaintly) for actually talking to each other. These relatively recent smart devices are upending the traditional separations between work and home, with uncertain results. For some employers, “bring your own device” (“BYOD”) is considered a boon, allowing employees to stay connected to the workplace at all times through the comfort and convenience of their personal devices. For others, BYOD could be a nightmare, with IT advisory company Gartner calling it, cheekily, “a disruptive phenomenon where employees bring non-company IT into the organization and demand to be connected to everything – without proper accountability or oversight.”[1] Chances are good that the true answer might be a little bit of both as lines continue to blur across the wirelessly-connected workforce. Gartner estimates that as many as 90% of workplaces will have some aspect of BYOD in place by 2017. We’ll explore the reasoning behind BYOD and the pitfalls that can accompany it before delving into what makes for a strong BYOD policy. More >
Digital “Off-the-Record” Conversations?
Employers and business professionals are no strangers to “off-the-record” conversations and closed-door meetings. In today’s world, though, many long for a way to converse online without a permanent record of the conversation existing somewhere out there in Internet-land. New apps have responded to this need; think Snapchat (the popular app that allows users to set a predetermined time for how long recipients can view their photos) for text messaging. TigerText, Wickr, and Confide are just some of the self-destructing text apps that have recently emerged. Businesses, however, should proceed with caution when using these – they could not only present an air of impropriety but also be a legal hazard. More >
Facebook Friends & Workplace Enemies
Inappropriate Facebook posts, pictures and the like have led to many firings in recent years. A large number of employees have become smarter on social media and made a concerted effort to not “friend” a manager or boss. They think that they are keeping their online persona and work reputation separate…but is that really possible when dealing with the Internet? More >
Internet Defamation—What Can You Do When You Are the Target?
We’ve all seen them. Anonymous spewing hate-filled, defamatory statements on Facebook and Twitter, as well as in the comment pages of news stories on both local and national news. The commenters have a certain entertainment value, until you or your business are in their sights. So what do you do? The answer is not always so simple, especially when you don’t even know who is speaking. More >
Will a Savings Clause Save Your Social Media Policy?
Could a savings clause salvage an otherwise invalid social media policy? Maybe. There is no definitive answer to this question, as savings clauses have been portrayed as both a potential asset for employment handbooks and a non-factor in acting as a loophole for Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Thus, it is important to view savings clauses as one tool in your arsenal and not as a panacea for an overly-broad social media policy. More >
Are Personal Emails Private in the Workplace?
Can companies monitor and read personal emails? While this is no longer a novel question, companies continue to struggle with finding ways to protect their ability to access and monitor employees’ email activity. A review of recent cases reminds us that while the answer is usually situational, the result almost always hinges on the strength and specificity of the company’s computer and email use policy. More >
Using Social Media to Assist With Crisis Management
It is hard to imagine a business or organization that has not had to deal with some sort of crisis that impacts, or has the potential to impact, its reputation. Social media, and the speed by which it can be used to spread information, has enormous potential to accelerate a reputational crisis. Conversely, social media can be one of your most valuable tools when it comes to crisis management. Your ability to manage a crisis may, however, be directly impacted by how prepared you are to utilize social media in a focused and comprehensive way when a crisis occurs. More >
Who owns your Twitter account?
As more and more employees are tasked with -- or even hired for the express purpose of -- tweeting on behalf of their employer, it is important to think about ownership of the twitter account from which they tweet. A twitter account can be an important asset to a business or organization because the account (and the owner thereof) amasses followers who can become customers, fans and/or contributors. Those followers can also share the marketing and informative content your company or organization chooses to share with others by re-tweeting, liking or quoting your tweets, or by old-fashioned word-of-mouth. If they suddenly disappear, it may take significant time and effort to amass those followers again, and some you may never get back. More >
Employee Manuals – Updating is the Best Defense continued…..
Rolling out policy changes appropriately is a necessary part of updating policies. A company can write and update its manual and have the most effective policies ever, but if they are not presented to the workforce in the proper way, policies are ineffective and just another stack of papers on everyone’s desk. Whatever your detailed course of roll-out, from individual meetings to a company-wide email, you have to go beyond announcing policy changes. Get written acknowledgements from every employee on every change. It is often common practice to issue updates and send out each policy change-by-change, like an addendum to the manual every few months. This is necessary to keep your employees aware of the changes occurring in the workplace policies. However, all those loose papers might get lost in the minutia of daily business and never actually make it into an employee’s manual. So the reality is employees may not be operating with an updated version of the manual. Re-issuing the employee manual in its entirety is the best policy to ensure that employees have the most up-to-date version; once a year should be sufficient, unless significant changes occur. This can be a mitigating factor in unemployment hearings – if an employee was terminated because of a policy violation and the employee had notice and acknowledged changes to the policies and procedures, the company generally has a better chance of justifying the termination for misconduct. More >
