Computer Use

Lawsuit: No, it’s not okay to access a vacationing co-worker’s social media at the office

February 21, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

https://www.theemployerhandbook.com/files/2018/02/maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com-Facebook-Mobile-Texting-Smartphone-Facebook-Lite-3021068.jpg

Facebook Mobile Texting Smartphone Facebook Lite (Image Credit: http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/Facebook-Mobile-Texting-Smartphone-Facebook-Lite-3021068)

During a week-long vacation from work, a Pennsylvania woman claims that some colleagues logged into her Facebook account from work and reviewed her Facebook Messenger messages, among other things. The woman further claims that when she returned to work from vacation, her employer fired her because “things had come to light.”

And now she’s suing in federal court.

This’ll teach you not to snoop on your employee’s personal emails…

July 13, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

Imagine that one of your top salespeople leaves to go to work for a competitor. At least you had the foresight to have her sign a nonsolicitation agreement as a condition of employment. So, your customers are safe.

Then again… Continue reading

The “E” in E-Mail stands for Exhibit. As in Exhibit A.

June 22, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Not a day goes by — or, so it seems — that an employee isn’t making headlines for some social media stupidity that results in losing a job. But, social needs to keep its ego in check and pay respect to the true OG that paved the way.

Yeah, son. Email. Continue reading

Does a company invade an employee’s privacy by accessing personal texts on a work-issued iPad?

March 24, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

This “invasion of privacy” question is the lynchpin of a new lawsuit from two former employees of one of the largest beer companies in the world. The complaint (available here), which began in state court, has been removed to federal court in New Jersey.

David Gialanella, reporting for the New Jersey Law Journal (full article here), summarizes the facts of the case:

A year ago, five company employees, including Nascimento and Yule, exchanged a series of text messages, apparently disparaging fellow employee Alex Davis. The messages were transmitted using their personal mobile phones, and on their own time, but Nascimento’s personal phone was linked to his company iPad through the iMessaging application, causing the messages to be stored on the iPad, according to the complaint.

Afterward, Nascimento was issued a new iPad, while the old one—with his text messages and credit card information still stored on it—was loaned to Davis. Davis discovered the text messages and complained, after which Nascimento, Yule and the others were questioned by investigators hired by Anheuser-Busch, according to the complaint.

Nascimento, Yule and a third employee involved in the messaging were terminated last September for “‘violation of corporate policy regarding use of company equipment,’” while a fourth was reprimanded, according to the complaint.

NLRB: Your employees can use company email to badmouth you and unionize. Four reasons it’s no big deal.

December 12, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

YES, THAT’S RIGHT. NO BIG DEAL.

Hey, if you’re a big employment dork like me, (vote Handbook!), you’ve already read a bunch of blog posts, and you’ll read several more about how the sky is falling after yesterday’s NLRB decision, in which the Board held that employees may use company email to discuss the terms and conditions of employment.

Yes, this decision extends to any workplace — not just unionized workplaces — that is covered by the National Labor Relations Act. And, yes, it may help your employees communicate with one another to form a union (gasp!) or otherwise discuss working conditions, but…

Is it against the law to remote wipe an employee’s Candy Crush high score?

November 18, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Replace Candy Crush high score with email contacts on a personal iPhone used for work (BYOD), and you have the issue that a federal court in Texas recently tackled.

The answer follows after the jump…

* * *

My employee deleted all of her work emails and quit. Can I sue her for that?

May 13, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Well, sure, you can.

But winning that case — especially if you’re thinking about a claim under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — may be another story.

The CFAA is designed to prevent unauthorized access or malicious interference with a computer system. Often used as an employer-sword, to state a claim for a violation of the CFAA, a company must prove that an employee actually caused damage to its computer system or data. The CFAA defines “damage” as “any impairment to the integrity or availability of data, a program, a system, or information.”

Four lessons employers can learn from the Petraeus scandal

November 20, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Yeah, I know, this post would have been timely if posted last week, when the Petraeus news actually surfaced.

Well it is — err, was — timely. That is, my Dilworth Paxson colleague, Sehyung Lee, did post “Attennnnn-tion! 4 Important Lessons From the General Petraeus Scandal” over at the White Collar Defense Update Blog last week. I just didn’t get around to reading it until last Friday and, by then, it was too late to link to it from this blog, and…

You get the point right? (I’m too lazy to offer you any original content today).

The golden rule on forwarding emails at work

June 4, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

“An employee who emails pictures of Trayvon Martin‘s head cropped onto the body of a dead police officer is a thought-leading change agent.”

— Absolutely nobody in HR

No, he gets fired.

That’s what they said: “Naked ambition” and a “voyeur boss”? (And more…)

May 18, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

As evidenced by the nature of this blog post and the picture on the right, it’s best not to leave me in the office alone, unsupervised, with an iPhone, and App Store credits, as I punch this out at 10:52 at night on a Thursday. (And yet, somehow, the Wall Street Journal deems me quotable).

Rest assured, everything I do, I do it for you. And, best of all, it’s all employment-law related. Love my job!

(My wife has to be cool with me using our wedding song for this blog post, right? Love ya, baby! “Take me as I am….”)