Human Resources: Legal Perils of Social Media & Social Networking: What Every Employer Needs to Know

As employees become increasingly tech-savvy and the venues for broadcasting over the Internet become more accessible, employees’ use of social media – including blogging, microblogging (e.g., Twitter), Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and YouTube – presents major challenges for employers. Human resources professionals, privacy and compliance officers and legal counsel must work together to ensure that lawful practices are followed when regulating and responding to employees’ social media activities, and that their organization’s business interests and electronic resources are protected.

When employees access social media and social networking sites while on duty (without authorization) and off-duty, their activities create a host of risks for their employer, – including disclosure of trade secrets and intellectual property, "cyber-harassment," security breaches, union organizing, and defamation. At the same time, employers who make employment decisions based on applicants’ and employees’ social media activities can run afoul of a variety of laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, protections against adverse action based on lawful off-duty conduct, the National Labor Relations Act, and anti-discrimination laws. Addressing these risks requires knowledge of applicable laws, a coherent management strategy, and an understanding of the attitudes and expectations of the changing workforce is.

This program will help employers to understand their responsibilities in this dynamic environment and to identify critical measures that may be taken without running afoul of employee privacy rights and legal restrictions. Join us for an interactive session that will address the following areas, including:

Understanding employee views about the use of social media and networking sites
Identifying types of misconduct — whether off-duty or at work — that can impact your business
Developing a management strategy in relation to employees’ use of social media and networking sites
The laws governing privacy in the workplace
Legal restrictions on searching social media sites in the hiring process
Taking adverse action against an employee or applicant who posts negative content about the company on the Internet
Considerations for management before accessing restricted social media sites
Guidelines for regulating social networking

This webcast has been approved for 1.0 General credits through HRCI

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