23 states<\/a> have already implemented social media privacy laws for employees, so you\u2019ll want to ensure you\u2019re not overstepping any legal requirements when drafting your social media policy.<\/p>\nHere are a few\u00a0Social Media Policy\u00a0Do\u2019s and Don\u2019ts to keep in mind: <\/b>
\nDO\u2026 Maintain control over company social media accounts. As the employer, you own them and have a right to access them. You should always have the current credentials to access company social media, even if you assign an employee or outside party to oversee the accounts.<\/p>\n
DO\u2026 Respect the privacy of employees. Even publicly-viewable social media accounts are part of the personal lives of your employees. Monitoring the personal conversations of your employees indicates you don\u2019t trust them. Employees who believe their employer doesn\u2019t trust them will be less engaged and committed.<\/p>\n
DO\u2026 Encourage employees to be respectful and to avoid statements that could be interpreted as threatening, harassing, or defaming. You can tell them not to present their opinions as those of the company and to refrain from sharing confidential company information on social media. Put employees on notice that you may request to see their social media activity if it\u2019s relevant to an investigation of misconduct. State laws generally say you may request access to an employee\u2019s personal social media only if you\u2019re conducting an investigation into that employee\u2019s alleged misconduct and you have a reasonable belief that the employee\u2019s personal social media activity is relevant to the investigation.<\/p>\n
And now for the Don\u2019ts:<\/b>
\nDON\u2019T\u2026 Examine the social media accounts of applicants or employees. If you were to learn information about a protected class or protected activity, and then made an adverse decision regarding the employee or applicant, you could open yourself up to claims of retaliation or discrimination. Generally, it\u2019s best that employers and supervisors not be online \u201cfriends\u201d or \u201cfollowers\u201d of their employees.<\/p>\n
DON\u2019T\u2026 Restrict concerted activity. According to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), employer social media policies should not be so sweeping that they prohibit (or would seem to discourage) the kinds of activity protected by federal labor law, such as the discussion of wages or working conditions among employees.<\/p>\n
DON\u2019T\u2026 Ignore the laws. While state laws differ, they share some general themes. First, the laws prohibit employers from requiring or requesting that employees or applicants disclose their login credentials (usernames or passwords). Second, the laws say you can\u2019t require or request that an employee or applicant access their personal social media in your presence or add you to their contacts or friends list. If an account is private, you shouldn\u2019t try to gain access to it. Third, the law prohibits retaliation on your part. For example, if you were to discipline an employee for refusing to show you what\u2019s on their social media timeline, or not hire an applicant who refused to do the same, you\u2019d be in violation of the law.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, if you have employees working in any of the states with social media privacy laws, it\u2019s a good idea to examine the specific laws to make sure you\u2019re not in violation. But even if your state has no social media privacy law, we recommend using a social media policy that encompasses the advice above.<\/p>\n
For more information on how GTM assists clients with HR issues like this, contact us<\/a> at (518) 373-4111.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No employer wants to see an employee post anything negative about the company on a personal social media account. But what legal rights do you have with regard to social media account privacy? See our social media policy do’s and don’ts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[18,19,24,39],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-3883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consulting-services","tag-employer-policies","tag-human-resources","tag-nlra","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3883"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8342,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3883\/revisions\/8342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3883"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=3883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Chances are most of your employees are on social media, and some of them may be using their private accounts to say things about their employment. Frustrated employees might even be complaining about their working conditions \u2013 or about you.<\/p>\n