https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • Microwave/RF
    • T&D World
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

Legal Matters


Commentary

How to make the right social-media choices for your organization

How to make the right social-media choices for your organization

Social media can be a powerful tool for disseminating important information quickly, especially by government and public-safety agencies in times of emergency. But there are pitfalls to be avoided, particularly those that concern privacy.
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 26th November 2013

By Meredith Campbell and Joy Einstein

Facebook says that it attracts 750 million visitors per month, while Twitter claims 250 million visitors in the same timeframe. Meanwhile, the social-media sites LinkedIn, Pinterest and MySpace each claim110 million, 85 million and 70 million visitors every month, respectively. What these staggering social-media statistics show is that everyone is doing it. The question is: how should your company join in?

Social-media use certainly has advantages for employers. At the forefront is the ability quickly and efficiently disseminate information. Public-sector employers, whose tasks often depend on rapid alerts to the public, have seen great success using social media in this regard.

Of course, nothing good comes without a price and social media is not exempt from the adage. Employers can set themselves up for liability exposure in a variety of ways through the use of social media, either by employee social-media use or by the company’s own use. Privacy is one such area where liability could attach, particularly for public-sector entities.

For example, in October 2013, an accident victim’s family members brought suit in Greenbrier County Circuit Court in West Virginia against Quinnwood Emergency Ambulance for invasion of privacy. They alleged that one of the EMT responders posted pictures of their son, an accident victim, to her Facebook page. Although the litigation is still in its early stages, state legislators already attempted to pass a bill that would make it a crime to take photos of corpses outside of certain defined situations. 

A similar incident led to a lawsuit against the California Highway Patrol when an officer, who took an accident photo pursuant to policy, disseminated the photo outside the agency, which was against policy. This led to its posting online. Summary judgment was granted in the case, with the trial court judge finding that the officers had no duty to protect the family’s privacy. However, the California Court of Appeals for the Fourth District disagreed, and found that the officers could still be sued for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The case eventually was settled in 2012 for more than $2 million.

There are numerous other ways that an employer may find itself vicariously liable for torts that employees have committed through social-media usage. For example, if an employee takes to social media to talk about a client he or she cannot stand, or makes derogatory comments about a competitor’s products, this could invite lawsuits against the company for myriad causes of action, such as slander, defamation, interference with business relationships, etc.

Moreover, employee interchange via social media about protected characteristics like race or gender may violate an employer's anti-harassment policy and create a hostile work environment, just as it does when communicated in-person by employees. This has the potential of subjecting the employer itself to liability where such behavior goes uncorrected. For example, in Blakey v. Continental Airlines, a case in which a female airline pilot was being harassed on a company-affiliated online bulletin board, the court stated that an electronic bulletin board located outside the workplace still has the ability to permeate the workplace and create a hostile environment that the employer may have a duty to correct.

Employers also can find themselves liable for violations of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) for certain actions related to social media. The NLRA protects the right of employees to engage in concerted activity to change workplace conditions. For example, groups of employees are allowed to get together, including by online forum, and discuss their low pay in an effort to get better wages. If an employer discovers a series of online posts in which employees made negative comments about their wages, and then terminates or otherwise disciplines employees for these comments, that employer has violated the NLRA.

Finally, public-sector employers face additional liability for disciplinary actions taken as a result of posting on social-media sites, because they must respect their employees’ First Amendment rights. If not, employees could bring suit under the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1871. For example, if a high-school teacher (a public employee) does not get her contract renewed after the principal discovers she had conversations with students on MySpace, she might be able to bring a lawsuit. However, speech by public employees may be regulated to a greater extent than that of private-sector employees, e.g., public employers may restrict employee speech to protect legitimate government interests under certain circumstances.

In gauging the pros and cons of social media, in order to determine whether its use makes sense for your organization, there are some basic guidelines that should be followed:

Do

  • Instruct employees about the company’s various social-media policies, making sure to highlight the policies that might be of particular relevance to their positions.
  • Have an employee policy that bars defamatory statements on social media about the employer, customers, clients and vendors.
  • Have an employee policy that bars obscene, threatening, intimidating or harassing social-media posts.
  • Retain counsel to analyze any proposed implementation or revision of your social-media policies.

Don’t

  • Seek out information about an employee’s membership in a protected class or in an association—such as a union—as well as political activities in which he is engaged.
  • Don’t use electronic means to observe or monitor personal social-media use, unless it affects the workplace.
  • Obtain more information than required to make an employment decision.
  • Take adverse action against an employee whose social-media use could be protected under the NLRA or whistleblower laws

Social media is everywhere now, so it is increasingly important for employers to limit the liability that could result from its use. Be mindful, and instruct employees to be mindful, of privacy concerns; posting about protected characteristics; the NLRA’s requirements; and the First Amendment.

Meredith Campbell is a partner at Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker, P.A., and co-chair of the firm’s Employment and Labor practice group, while Joy Einstein is an associate within that group.

Tags: Commentary Enterprise Federal Government/Military Policy Public Safety State & Local Government Legal Matters Commentary

Most Recent


  • FirstNet PTT technical progress highlighted by AT&T at APCO 2022
    FirstNet PTT—the mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) service launched in 2020—continues to evolve with the development of much-anticipated features like LMR interoperability and broadcast technology that will support one-to-many calls, an AT&T official said during a presentation at the recent APCO 2022 event in Anaheim, Calif. FirstNet users can use numerous different push-to-talk (PTT) applications that leverage the […]
  • How to make the right social-media choices for your organization
    Newscan: D.C. appeals court upholds FCC decision to share 5.9 GHz V2V spectrum with Wi-Fi
    Web Roundup Items from other news organizations D.C. appeals court upholds FCC decision to share 5.9 GHz V2V spectrum with Wi-Fi Auto industry lost its spectrum fight with FCC because V2V was always a fantasy FCC, FEMA raise alarm bells about vulnerabilities in Emergency Alert System Gigi Sohn’s backers dismiss call for different FCC nominee […]
  • Cisco confirms data breach, hacked files leaked
    Cisco has confirmed a breach of its network, where the attacker used voice phishing to convince an employee to accept a malicious multifactor authentication (MFA) push. The breach resulted in cyberattackers gaining access to the company’s virtual private network (VPN) and the theft of an unspecified number of files from its network, the company stated […]
  • Researchers developing health-monitoring e-tattoo
    Stories of people embedding digital devices into their bodies are becoming increasingly common; with these digital implants capable of everything from aiding mobility to paying for products, unlocking doors and storing data. A team of researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have taken a similar concept and applied it to the […]

Related Content

Commentary


LTE and liability: Why the fire service must move forward with digital incident command

  • 2
6th May 2022

Partnership and collaboration must be the foundation for emergency communications

18th April 2022

FirstNet success means no hypothetical ‘shots’ need to be fired, Swenson says

22nd February 2022
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

FirstNet PTT technical progress highlighted by AT&T at APCO 2022 dlvr.it/SWZtNJ

13th August 2022
UrgentComm

Newscan: D.C. appeals court upholds FCC decision to share 5.9 GHz V2V spectrum with Wi-Fi dlvr.it/SWZQpx

13th August 2022
UrgentComm

Cisco confirms data breach, hacked files leaked dlvr.it/SWV8l9

12th August 2022
UrgentComm

Researchers developing health-monitoring e-tattoo dlvr.it/SWV749

12th August 2022
UrgentComm

Partnership launches no-cost wastewater monitoring service for local governments dlvr.it/SWV5PK

12th August 2022
UrgentComm

Verizon Frontline demos connectivity and emergency response to chemical spill drill dlvr.it/SWV4cg

12th August 2022
UrgentComm

Research claims driverless tech still too easy to trick dlvr.it/SWMDts

10th August 2022
UrgentComm

Coalition expresses urgent need to NG911 funding, wants more than proposed $10 billion dlvr.it/SWL5VW

9th August 2022

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X