Social Media Marketing and Ethics Blog for Lawyers

    GPSSF-Speaker Spotlight and Technology Tip: Ethan Wall

    January 23, 2015

    View the full article here.    Speaker Spotlight and Technology Tip: Ethan Wall. The One Question You Must Ask Yourself Before Logging Into Facebook.   Social media attorney, author, professor and keynote speaker Ethan Wall of Social Media Law and Order is a speaker at this week’s Wild, Wild Tech conference. Wall will teach you how The Florida Bar […]

    READ MORE

    Attorney At Law Magazine- Ethan Wall Elected to the Florida Bar's YLD 2015 Board

    January 21, 2015

    Check out the original article here.    Ethan Wall Elected to the Florida Bar’s YLD 2015 Board Ethan Wall, a social media law author and attorney, has been elected to be a member of the Florida Bar’s Young Lawyers Division 2015 Board of Governors. His two-year term will begin June 30, 2015. Wall recently launched […]

    READ MORE

    What Work Rules and Social Media Policies Violate Federal Law?

    January 19, 2015

    Generally speaking, a rule violates the National Labor Relations Act when it precludes employees from discussing terms and conditions of employment, or sharing information about themselves or their fellow employees with outside parties. Here are a few other examples of policies that unlawfully interfere with employees’ protected rights: Rule 1: A rule prohibiting employees from […]

    READ MORE

    When Does a Social Media Policy Violate Federal Law?

    An employer’s social media policy or work rule violates the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) if it would reasonably tend to chill employees in the exercise of their protected rights. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) uses a two-step inquiry to determine if a work rule would have such an effect. First, a rule is […]

    READ MORE

    What are Lawful Work Rules to Manage Employee Social Media Use?

    As a general rule, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found work rules and policies lawful when they provided specific examples of what was prohibited under the policy, instead of general prohibitions over certain types of social media activities. The NLRB found that the work rules presented in the following table complied with the National […]

    READ MORE

    How to Manage Employee Social Media Use through Work Rules and Social Media Policies

    Many employers now implement work rules or social media policies that are designed to manage employee social media use and protect the company from legal liability arising out of improper or illegal social media. The purpose of these work rules and policies are to place employees on notice regarding what they can and cannot do […]

    READ MORE

    What Happens if You Wrongfully Fire an Employee for Their Social Media Activity?

    If an employer terminates or disciplines an employee for engaging in protected social media activity, then the employee may file an unfair labor charge against the employer (or, most likely, the employee will visit an attorney who then files the unfair labor charge on the employees behalf). The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will expeditiously […]

    READ MORE

    Home Improvement Store Employee Fired for Griping on Facebook

    Companies can face serious legal problems for firing an employee for their social media activity without first determining whether the employee’s speech is protected under federal law. Here’s a recent case where the termination was ultimately deemed lawful: The Facts In response to being reprimanded by her supervisor, the employee updated her Facebook status from […]

    READ MORE

    Newspaper Reporter Was Fired for Tweets Unrelated to His Job

    Companies can face serious legal problems for firing an employee for their social media activity without first determining whether the employee’s speech is protected under federal law. Here’s a recent case where the termination was ultimately deemed lawful: The Facts After establishing a work-related Twitter account at the newspaper’s encouragement to promote news stories, the […]

    READ MORE

    What Social Media Activity is Not Protected Under Federal Law?

    January 15, 2015

    An employee’s social media activity is not protected under the NLRA if it does not seek to involve other employees, does not relate to the shared terms and conditions of employment, or is an activity that is otherwise carried out in a reckless or malicious manner. Social media activity that is not protected could include: […]

    READ MORE