The Employer Handbook

Articles Posted in Social Media and the Workplace

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Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Many of you have Googled or otherwise searched for a job candidate online before extending an official offer. I imagine that there were times that you found something objectionable that caused you to reconsider the offer.

But, how many of you have actually gone so far as to publicize your selection process on social media and shame the candidate? Continue reading

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Social-Media-Policy-Quiz-Google-Forms-1024x469

Yesterday, in this blog post, I asked you to take this quiz. That’s the one where you were shown 11 common social media policies and had to decide which ones the National Labor Relations Board’s Office of General Counsel would conclude were lawful.

So, how did you do? You did aight. Continue reading

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US Navy 080730-N-5277R-003 A Commander, Naval Forces Japan firefighter douses a fire on a dummy aircraft during the annual off-station mishap drill at Naval Support Facility Kamiseya

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Seaman Barry Riley [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

A white South Carolina firefighter posted threats on Facebook that he would run over Black Lives Matters protesters.

The fire department began receiving complaints about these posts. Plus, the posts violated various provisions of the employee handbook. So, the next day, the firefighter was, err, fired. (For more on the initial lawsuit, you can read this story from CBS News.)

Fast forward three years and the firefighter is this close to a federal jury hearing his race discrimination claims. Continue reading

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Philadelphia Police - cruiser on Ben Franklin Parkway.jpeg

By Zuzu – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

I’m typing this post in Las Vegas at the 2019 SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition. Several years ago, the intersection employee use of social media and HR compliance spawned several sessions on the topic. I should know; I delivered many of them.

In 2019 however, that topic seems played out.

But, make no mistake about it, employee abuse of social media is still a big problem for many workplaces in the United States. Continue reading

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Code 3 combination LED ^ rotating beacons - Flickr - Highway Patrol Images

By Highway Patrol Images (Code 3 combination LED & rotating beacons) [CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

Hold on, let me proofread that.

Employee makes racist Facebook posts, and company must pay him $100,000. Yep, that’s it. Continue reading

“Doing What’s Right – Not Just What’s Legal”