Ohio Court of Appeals Disagrees, Confirming That Employees Cannot Succeed on Free Speech Violation Claims Against Private Employers (US) Rita Hall worked for Kosei St. Marys Corporation (“KSM”) as a line supervisor. In June 2020, Ms. Hall posted an offensive image on her public Facebook page comparing a group of monkeys to a group of … Continue Reading
In June 2020, we added a post to Employment Law Worldview addressing the complicated situation employers are in when employees express – sometime respectfully, sometimes not – different, and indeed, opposite views on COVID-19 issues (e.g., legitimate public health emergency versus hoax or “plandemic”), racial justice (“Black Lives Matter” versus “All Lives Matter”), and politics … Continue Reading
Influencer advertising is on the rise. In response to this, regulators have issued a joint guide on advertising laws and rules. We discuss perspectives in this brief video on how brands can successfully navigate using influencers and what happens when employees post about work on social media.… Continue Reading
When a public relations issue strikes, it can be difficult to find time to implement new procedures or educate employees on new legal concepts. This is particularly true where social media can trigger a public relations crisis almost instantaneously. Accordingly, an organization should develop a public relations response plan before it needs one.… Continue Reading
During the first month and a half of 2018, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) released a torrent of memoranda authored by its Division of Advice (“Advice”), a section of the NLRB’s Office of the General Counsel. As you may have read on our blog before, Advice memoranda are issued by the NLRB’s … Continue Reading
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) issued two groundbreaking decisions on December 14, which will give both union and non-union employers significantly more flexibility to manage their operations. Earlier this week, the Board also signaled that it will revise the “quickie” election rules implemented in 2015 in the near future. These developments will … Continue Reading
Do you know your Charmanders from your Bulbasaurs? Did you have a preferred method for catching Snorlax? Was your favourite move Hydro Pump? If you have any idea what I am talking about, excellent. If not, please be assured that I am reminiscing about the nineties/noughties phenomenon that was Pokémon and do not require the … Continue Reading
On October 21, 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) ruling that a Facebook “like” can be protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)—this underlying NLRB decision was reviewed in detail in our previous post regarding Triple Play v. Sazone and Triple … Continue Reading
Taking a stand against jilted ex-lovers, Western Australia has joined the UK and USA to fight the war on ‘revenge porn’. Revenge porn occurs when the (either actually or imminently) ex-partner posts nude or intimate pictures or videos online without consent. In the absence of appropriate laws, perpetrators have often escaped liability. In response, countries … Continue Reading
On August 22, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) affirmed an administrative law judge’s January 2012 ruling that Triple Play Sports Bar and Grille (Triple Play) unlawfully fired bartender-waitress Jillian Sanzone and cook Vincent Spinella requiring they be rehired and provided back pay and benefits with interest. In Triple Play v. Sazone and Triple … Continue Reading
Sarah Jones, a high school teacher and former Cincinnati Bengal cheerleader, discovered several nasty posts about herself on TheDirty.com. The anonymous writer took stabs at her looks, and claimed she was not only promiscuous, but infected with sexually‑transmitted diseases. The website operator refused Jones’ requests to remove the posts, so she sued the site for … Continue Reading
On February 12, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board decided to continue to protect the right of union members to post freely on Facebook and this time, even finds that the Union itself has no obligation to disavow or remove comments which very clearly threatened some of its members if they crossed the picket line. … Continue Reading
If you have a Facebook account, you will have come across #Neknominate, the drinking game that has gone viral in recent weeks. The game involves shunning the age-old tradition of moderate drinking with friends in the same room at the same time and instead consists of players recording themselves downing an alcoholic drink and then … Continue Reading
Facebook reports 1.23 billion users, and I am “friends” with only about 38 of them. Statistics like that really keep any pretence of self-importance firmly in check as you mull over the sheer insignificance of your next wise or witty status update. As for the other 1.23 billion users, who really cares how bored you … Continue Reading
Now don’t get me wrong – I’m a great believer in technology. I ditched paperbacks long ago for a Kindle, have an Android and an iOS phone both packed with apps, and am on the management committee for the techUK HR Forum. However, even I draw the line at an app whose sole purpose is … Continue Reading
It’s that time of year when we all reflect on the past 12 months and think about what we might want to change and improve. For HR professionals, the lessons can be significant; perhaps Bob in Accounts needs some urgent remedial guidance on what is and is not an appropriate Secret Santa gift? Or maybe … Continue Reading
‘Tis the season of goodwill. Well, for most of us at least… Over in Oxfordshire, a pub has just dismissed one of its chefs. We don’t really know much about why, or whether it was reasonable. One might venture that the dismissal of a chef just 10 days before Christmas is unlikely to be unfounded, … Continue Reading
In recent webinars and workshops we have discussed the issues presented by the use of social networking sites, particularly LinkedIn, by employees who leave to join a competitor or set up on their own. Last week, written judgment was handed down in relation to an injunction application in the case of Whitmar Publications Limited v … Continue Reading
If you had a bad day at work would you go home and unleash a tirade of hate about your job and boss on Twitter? No? For most people common sense would prevail but an increasing number of employees seem more than happy to share disparaging comments about their workplace and colleagues on Twitter. Therefore … Continue Reading
Oh dear, such good intentions but it lasted less than a week. 17-year-old Paris Brown resigned from her £15,000-a-year post as “adviser on youth” to Kent Police Commissioner Ann Barnes after the media discovered her various tweets about sex, drugs, alcohol and her online use of derogatory and discriminatory terms. Brown apologised for her “inappropriate” comments and noted … Continue Reading
Social Media is everywhere. In fact, that is probably the point of it. It encourages debate and discussion. It provides instant access to celebrities, politicians, anyone in fact. It can be fantastic. It can be empowering. But it can also be dangerous. Users of social media, both writers and readers, employers and employees, must accept … Continue Reading
For the past year, the NLRB has issued a large number of decisions on a multitude of issues. After today’s 47-page ruling [pdf] from DC Circuit Judges David B. Sentelle, Karen LeCraft Henderson and Thomas B. Griffith, those decisions are now invalid. The Court held that President Obama’s January 4, 2012 recess appointments of Sharon Block, … Continue Reading
On September 7, 2012, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its first opinion invalidating an employer’s electronic posting rules in Costco Wholesale Corp. [pdf] The topic of social media has received almost unprecedented attention by the NLRB as identified in three reports issued by Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon in the past 12 months … Continue Reading
Fame at last! Whincup, D. appears in the bibliography of a recent ACAS Research Paper into “Workplaces and Social Networking – the implications for employment relation”, hooray!. Aside obviously from its reference to me, the Paper is primarily notable for the details it provides of a survey conducted by MyJobGroup. One thousand individual respondents were … Continue Reading
