Kendall Coffey on his Spinning the Law LinkedIn Discussion group
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| Kendall Coffey |
Companies that want to avoid and minimize criticism or high-profile embarrassment from Facebook and other means are increasingly conducting more thorough background investigations to monitor their employees. As a result, employees should be aware that they may suffer consequences for publishing words they had deemed innocent or private.
While most established companies have a policy or an employee manual that specifically gives the employer full permission to review what its employees are browsing online, this is very different from investigating an employee’s personal Facebook account and penalizing him or her for that content.
Several states are now considering legislation to control this breach of privacy. In the meantime, everyone from student-athletes who risk losing scholarships to prospective employees who risk not getting hired must endure this advanced scrutiny. While companies and employers are jusifiably concerned with protecting their brand, entering someone’s Facebook account provides access to private communications that reveal information on the author’s personal thoughts and viewpoints.
The courts soon might have to rule on whether this is overreaching by employers. With private employers in an at-will state that can terminate an employee for any reason besides an illegal one of discrimination, it is difficult to prevail in a legal challenge, but public employers are subject to a number of Constitutional provisions.
Student-athletes have a stronger position, for example, than a prison guard or law enforcement official because society demands a more exacting scrutiny in certain areas of employment where public security and pubic interest are an issue.
Unless legislation is passed to protect student-athletes and employees from their respective universities and employers, this society will inevitably become one in which public and private information mesh until the lines between them are indistinguishable, bringing us closer to Orwell’s prophetic '1984' state.
While most established companies have a policy or an employee manual that specifically gives the employer full permission to review what its employees are browsing online, this is very different from investigating an employee’s personal Facebook account and penalizing him or her for that content.
Several states are now considering legislation to control this breach of privacy. In the meantime, everyone from student-athletes who risk losing scholarships to prospective employees who risk not getting hired must endure this advanced scrutiny. While companies and employers are jusifiably concerned with protecting their brand, entering someone’s Facebook account provides access to private communications that reveal information on the author’s personal thoughts and viewpoints.
The courts soon might have to rule on whether this is overreaching by employers. With private employers in an at-will state that can terminate an employee for any reason besides an illegal one of discrimination, it is difficult to prevail in a legal challenge, but public employers are subject to a number of Constitutional provisions.
Student-athletes have a stronger position, for example, than a prison guard or law enforcement official because society demands a more exacting scrutiny in certain areas of employment where public security and pubic interest are an issue.
Unless legislation is passed to protect student-athletes and employees from their respective universities and employers, this society will inevitably become one in which public and private information mesh until the lines between them are indistinguishable, bringing us closer to Orwell’s prophetic '1984' state.
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