EMPLOYEE PRIVACY & SOCIAL MEDIA

Employee privacy has many components. Some states recognize that employees may have a private right of action to protect their right to privacy. Other states are less protective in this area. Our attorneys are on the cutting edge of advising employers on the intersection between the use of social media, workforce management, and brand protection. In step with the increasing use of social media by both employers and employees, Nixon Peabody attorneys proactively advise clients on the potential risks and opportunities associated with social media use in the workplace. We have tailored social media policies for clients ranging from a small local bank to a large multi-national corporation.

Our experience includes:

• Crafting social media policies that address:
  • the use of social media in the hiring process
  • employee use of social media as it relates to and impacts the employer and its brand
  • employee interaction with the company’s internal social media presence (e.g., a company’s internal social networking site, blog, or wiki)
  • employee interaction with the company’s external social media presence (e.g., a company’s own Facebook and Twitter pages)
• Guiding clients through the decision-making process for disciplining employees who inappropriately use social media
• Drafting discovery requests in litigation specifically regarding access to information from individual plaintiffs’ social media
• Incorporating language specifically referencing social media into separation and settlement agreements, restrictive covenants, and employee handbooks