Social Media and Your Business
Social media is here to stay and many businesses are wondering how to handle it. Those that block it are removing themselves from the conversation and those that embrace it will want to structure policies around it.
An effective social-media policy should:
1. Explain the scope of prohibited activities – no defaming the bosses, harassing co-workers, or revealing company secrets.
2. Clarify which employees are affected by the policy. For some employees using social media might be part of their job, other employees you may want to limit their use to on breaks or outside of work.
3. Describe any monitoring system in place – who uses it, and how.
4. Explain the penalties. What can the employees expect from the enforcement of the policies and what consequences might they face?
5. State that your social-media policy is not intended to interfere with protected activities or infringe on employee rights.
Before you go an implement a strict ban on social-media activity, please know that social networking, in certain contexts, may be considered a protected employee activity.
For example, when employees seek to improve their working conditions via social-media applications, their blogging may be protected under the National Labor Relations Act, even if such activities are prohibited by company policy.
Further, before you rush to take adverse action against an employee blogger, make sure not to violate anti-retaliation or whistleblower laws.
In addition to social-media bans, employer monitoring of employee Internet activity may result in antidiscrimination violations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. An example of this would be finding information on social-media sites and using that information to evaluate employees.
There may also be certain state laws that may protect an employee’s use of social-media applications as “off-duty” conduct.
There are tools to monitor social-media activity, but if you feel like you need to monitor your employee’s social-media activity you might have a bigger problem than social-media. You might have the wrong people on your team.
An effective social-media policy should:
1. Explain the scope of prohibited activities – no defaming the bosses, harassing co-workers, or revealing company secrets.
2. Clarify which employees are affected by the policy. For some employees using social media might be part of their job, other employees you may want to limit their use to on breaks or outside of work.
3. Describe any monitoring system in place – who uses it, and how.
4. Explain the penalties. What can the employees expect from the enforcement of the policies and what consequences might they face?
5. State that your social-media policy is not intended to interfere with protected activities or infringe on employee rights.
Before you go an implement a strict ban on social-media activity, please know that social networking, in certain contexts, may be considered a protected employee activity.
For example, when employees seek to improve their working conditions via social-media applications, their blogging may be protected under the National Labor Relations Act, even if such activities are prohibited by company policy.
Further, before you rush to take adverse action against an employee blogger, make sure not to violate anti-retaliation or whistleblower laws.
In addition to social-media bans, employer monitoring of employee Internet activity may result in antidiscrimination violations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. An example of this would be finding information on social-media sites and using that information to evaluate employees.
There may also be certain state laws that may protect an employee’s use of social-media applications as “off-duty” conduct.
There are tools to monitor social-media activity, but if you feel like you need to monitor your employee’s social-media activity you might have a bigger problem than social-media. You might have the wrong people on your team.
Posted by Cal Tingey at 11/26/2011 6:28 PM 
Categories: Personnel
Tags: Social Media Employee Policy employee rights National Labor Relations Act Cal Cal Tingey Tingey civil rights act Americans with Disabilities Act Age Discrimnination in Employment Act off duty conduct blog blogging blogger
Categories: Personnel
Tags: Social Media Employee Policy employee rights National Labor Relations Act Cal Cal Tingey Tingey civil rights act Americans with Disabilities Act Age Discrimnination in Employment Act off duty conduct blog blogging blogger
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