The Employer Handbook Blog

You can’t “rummage at will” through employee Facebook accounts

January 25, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Well, at least that’s what a federal court recently told a defendant-employer in this ruling.

In Tompkins v. Detroit Metropolitan Airport, the plaintiff suffered a slip-and-fall and later claimed back and other injuries. She sued her employer, who subsequently demanded that Tompkins provide full access to her Facebook account. Acknowledging that Facebook information that a user shares only with a few Facebook friends may still be discoverable, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, emphasized that there are limits to the Facebook discovery that a party may pursue:

[M]aterial posted on a “private” Facebook page, that is accessible to a selected group of recipients but not available for viewing by the general public, is generally not privileged, nor is it protected by common law or civil law notions of privacy. Nevertheless, the Defendant does not have a generalized right to rummage at will through information that Plaintiff has limited from public view. [T]here must be a threshold showing that the requested information is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.

U.S. Department of Labor has new FLSA and FMLA fact sheets

January 24, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor published new fact sheets on its website. Employers and employees alike will want to check these out:

Here is a link to the FLSA fact sheet. This fact sheet provides general information concerning the FLSA’s prohibition of retaliating against any employee who has filed a complaint or cooperated in an investigation.

Fact or Fiction: If you don’t say “FMLA”, you can’t take FMLA leave?

January 23, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

That’s right folks. It’s time for another edition of “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post”. So, let’s get right to today’s question:

That Eddie Employee is a gamer.

While filling up at the Gas-N-Gulp on his way to work, out of nowhere, a punk teen whacked Eddie across the face with a skateboard. Youch! Jaw broken, Eddie got back into his car, drove to work, and somehow managed to stumble into HR. Spitting out blood and teeth, Eddie asked Agatha Administrator for a week off from work to go to the hospital to have surgery to fix his ugly mug and recuperate. However, as Eddie slurred and lisped out his request, he never specifically mentioned the letters “F-M-L-A”.

NJ officially adopts the Trade Secrets Act

January 20, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

As reported here in September, the State of New Jersey was recommending passage of the New Jersey Trade Secrets Act.

Well, welcome to the party, pal. (Or is it Powell?). Last week, NJ became the 47th state to adopt a version of the uniform trade secrets act as Governor Christie signed the NJTSA into law. The new law provides for both legal relief (damages for actual loss an unjust enrichment, punitive damages, attorney’s fees) in the event of an actual misappropriation of trade secrets, and injunctive relief should there be an actual or threatened misappropriation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHm9MG9xw1o

Is it whistleblowing when your job is to report violations of the law?

January 19, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

That is the question that a former Starbucks employee is asking the NJ Supreme Court to answer. More on this case and what it could mean for actions asserted under NJ’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) after the jump…

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Crime & Punishment: Beware what you ask Philly job applicants

January 18, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFOzayDpWoI

Last year, here and here, I discussed legislation that would prohibit Philadelphia employers from asking job applicants about certain arrests and making any personnel decisions based on records of an arrest that does not result in a conviction. That legislation is now the law. That law is the Philadelphia Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Act.

Let’s practice…

Oh, baby? An employee’s pre-eligibility FMLA request is protected

January 17, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Back in 2005, a Pennsylvania federal court recognized in this opinion that an employee’s FMLA rights become sacrosanct upon requesting FMLA — even if the employee is not yet FMLA-eligible — provided that the employee has satisfied all FMLA service requirements when the FMLA begins. Where would this most likely arise? Why with pregnancy, of course. Something like:

Female employee starts work;

A few months later, she gets pregnant and requests FMLA to commence upon childbirth; and

She gets fired before giving birth.

Hey, those sound like the facts of Pereda v. Brookdale Senior Living Communities, Inc., a case decided in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals last week. More on this case, together with a big helping of FMLA tips for employers, after the jump…

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PA remains a hotbed of social-media discovery disputes

January 16, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

I’ve been slacking, folks.

Not since November have I blogged about a defendant’s motion to compel a motion to compel an individual’s social-media content. Since then, several more Pennsylvania courts have weighed in on this burgeoning area.

I’m sorry to each and every one of you. I have let you down. Will you ever stop judging forgive me?

Oh, let’s kiss and make nice. I’ll get you caught up on the social-media-litigation goings-ons after the jump…

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And the most ridiculous lawsuit of 2011 was…

January 13, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

According to FacesOfLawsuitAbuse.org, the lawsuit that keeps those lawyer jokes flowing is…

Convict sues couple he kidnapped for not helping him evade police. A man who kidnapped a couple at knifepoint while he was running from the police is now suing the victims, claiming that they promised to hide him in exchange for an unspecified amount of money. The plaintiff, currently in jail, is seeking $235,000 for the alleged “breach of contract.”

And from the ridiculous to the sublime just-about-as ridiculous…

SCOTUS: Religious groups nearly exempt from job-bias laws

January 12, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Thumbnail image for Supreme Court.jpg Yesterday, in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment bar employment-discrimination lawsuits by ministers against their churches. More on this decision and some helpful reminders for private-sector employers after the jump…

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