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 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
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
“You are a horrible human being. Just wait for karma to come back and bite you in the ass.” Notice of dismissal, or not? If you felt sorry for Carrie Bradshaw as she was dumped by post-it note in Sex and the City, spare a thought for Sheridan Corrie, whose employment in Australia was terminated, … Continue Reading
The U.S. Congress followed Maryland’s lead and introduced bills in both houses which would prohibit employers from requiring prospective or current employees to provide their employer with passwords to their social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter. The bills make it an illegal invasion of the employee’s privacy. The Senate version of the law … Continue Reading
You don’t have to be a new investor in Facebook stock to feel a little let down by social media sites at the moment. Watching the value of your stake spiral earthwards by 15% in less than a week must be depressing if you are a bank or a pension fund, but it is not … Continue Reading
On March 23, Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan warned its users in a blog post “to keep their password to themselves, and [Facebook] will do [its] best to protect that right.” The blog post was prompted by Facebook receiving “a distressing increase in reports of employers or others seeking to gain inappropriate access to … Continue Reading
As reported earlier this year, labor and employment lawyers and human resource personnel look to new decisions to help shed light on one of the fastest growing issues for employers—managing employee use of social media. Earlier this month, the NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon issued a report concerning nine recent cases that the agency … Continue Reading
Hard on the heels of the suggestion in my post on 24 August that dismissal for carelessness would only be fair if it related to matters of life or limb come two cases suggesting another justification – simple but overwhelming stupidity. These cases tread the difficult area between the underlying principles of fairness on the … Continue Reading
