Hiring & Firing

The limits of employee free speech on social media

September 9, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

One of the finest employment-law bloggers, Daniel Schwartz, recently marked the eight-year anniversary of his Connecticut Employment Law Blog with a post about the three most notable changes in employment law over that span. Number one was social media.

While for us bloggers, social media presents the lowest-hanging clickbait fruit, its metamorphosis and overall effect on the workplace is undeniable. Social media presents a slew of issues, from hiring (all those state laws on social media passwords) to firing (like the time those Facebook postings bungled an employee’s FMLA claims) and so much more.

He was late for work 111 times because of….BREAKFAST?!?! (And kept his $90,000 job).

September 3, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Earlier this year, I shared the most unique late-to-work excuses. “I have a bad habit of eating breakfast in the morning, and I lost track of time” did not make the list. However, according to the Associated Press, a New Jersey teacher used that excuse to explain away the 111 times he was late to work.

SURVEY: Are you using social media to find job candidates? If not, you’re in the minority.

September 2, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

The recent uptick in activity on my “fired AND Facebook” Google Alert suggests that individuals with jobs continue to struggle with social media (Exhibit A, B). However, according to a recent survey from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), 65% of surveyed employers found their new hires through social media this past year. LinkedIn was the most popular social networking platform for sourcing job candidates. Indeed, 87% of HR professionals said it was either “very or somewhat important for job seekers to be on LinkedIn.”

But, wait, there’s more…

There’s fudging credentials, and then there are these fifteen resume doozies.

August 14, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

CareerBuilder has released the 2015 edition of its “Biggest Resume Blunders” Survey. You know, about that seventh bullet. I was positive that I’d changed my email address before submitting that resume to NASA. Oh well. Their loss.

Here’s the full list:

Applicant claimed to be a former CEO of the company to which they were applying.

What these (former) employees did on social media was beyond stupid. #stoopid

July 2, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

For blog fodder, but, mostly for my amusement, I have a Google Alert for “fired AND facebook OR twitter.” Usually, it’s just a hit or two. But, yesterday, I hit the jackpot. Continue reading

Can the NAACP legally fire Rachel Dolezal? Here’s an employment lawyer’s take.

June 15, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Late last week, Rachel Dolezal, the President of the Spokane Chapter of the NAACP and a leader in the black community, was outed by her parents as being white.

The controversy caught a lot of people by surprise, most notably, the Spokane Chapter. Amidst a flurry of activity over the weekend — just check your Facebook and Twitter feeds — Ms. Dolezal planned to address the issue at a monthly meeting tonight. However, the Spokane Chapter announced on its Facebook page that the meeting would be postponed “to continue discussion with regional and national NAACP leaders.”

Now, what if this discussion consummated in firing Ms. Dolezal? Would that be legal? Continue reading

Those without Facebook accounts need not apply. Well, maybe not in one state.

May 27, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Forcing job applicants to disclose social media logins and passwords as a condition of employment is so 2013 ~~— kinda like this crappy blog~~. So, the State of Oregon is this close to becoming the first state to expand its social media workplace privacy law to forbid employers from requiring their employees or job applicants to have personal social media accounts as a condition of employment.

You can read a copy of the bill here.

So far, the bill has made it through both the House and Senate without a single “nay.” And~~, Mark Zuckerberg plans to buy Oregon, rename it “Gotcha, Zucka!” and secede from the Union~~ the Governor plans to sign the bill. The new law would only impact social media accounts used exclusively for personal purposes unrelated to any business purpose of the employer or prospective employer and that is not provided by or paid for by the employer or prospective employer.

I understand the good intentions of the bill. Work is work; personal is personal and worlds don’t have to collide. But, consider two points: Continue reading

Survey shows many hiring managers are not bashful about trolling applicants online.

May 20, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

It’s funny.

(Not “ha ha!” funny. Just, employment-law blogger, wry-smile funny).

I read different surveys about social media and hiring and the numbers vary greatly. For every survey that indicates that employers are not using social media to vet candidates, you get the one I read last night from CareerBuilder.com, which reports that “fifty-two percent of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates, up significantly from 43 percent last year and 39 percent in 2013.” Continue reading

One employee’s hard lesson about social media and customer relations

May 18, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Raise your hand if you don’t own a smartphone.

According to this Pew survey, 64% of American adults own smartphones. And that’s just the adults.

So, it should come as no surprise that, in the brief amount of time it takes someone to pull a phone of a pocket, bring it to life, pull up a camera app, and hit record — five seconds maybe — anything you (or your employees) do in public can be stored and shared. Continue reading

Thursday Giveaway

May 14, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Because I’m exhausted after Wednesday’s DFW–>PHL–>Phillies, instead of a beefy post, you can have the PowerPoint and webinar I delivered last week for HR Direct entitled “The State of Hiring: How to Comply With Ban the Box and Other Hiring Laws.”

Just email me and it’s yours.