Articles Posted in Social Media and the Workplace

Remember Natalie Munroe? Let me see if I can refresh your recollection.

She’s a blogger. She’s a teacher. That’s right, smarties. She’s the blogging teacher who got suspended after her school learned that he had written on her personal blog that she wished she could leave the following comments for students so that parents could gain further insight into how their children were performing in school:

• “Am concerned that your kid is going to come in one day and open fire on the school. (Wish I was kidding.)”
• Rude, beligerent, argumentative fuck.”
• Utterly loathsome in all imaginable ways.”
• I called out sick a couple of days just to avoid your son.”
• There’s no other way to say this: I hate your kid.”

You can read more about the history of Natalie Munroe here and here.

Look, I’m not one to toot my own horn…

And, God knows, I never like to plug my own work.

But, seriously folks, I would be remiss if I did not mention (again) that the Proactive Employer Podcast, sponsored by Thomas Econometrics, is presenting a special two-part round table discussion where experts answer all of your HR and social media questions. They’ve lined up an all-star panel of labor and employment lawyers, bloggers and social media adopters who will be sharing their expertise on various aspects of social media and human resources.

One year for Halloween when I was in law school, no, actually, I was in law school, I dressed up as Mr. T.

I had the gold, the overalls, the mohawk. People stopped me on the street to take their picture with me. Although, the highlight of the night was when I ran into someone dressed up as — wait for it — Hannibal Smith!

Where am I going with this? Ah, yes. While I tried my best to pull off Mr. T, there was never any risk of confusion. I was 160 pounds soaking wet, my “gold” was actually tin foil, and I’m white.

However, fast-forward 10 years. I’m a partner at a law firm. And I have a personal blog where I write about the law. *** Only in America *** So, as I advise my employer-clients to do with employees who blog and use other forms of social media to discuss work-related products and services, I include a disclaimer to alert readers that my opinions are mine and not my employer’s. In fact, this is a must in any good social media policy.

But should a social media policy also include language to the effect that the employer will not use an employee’s personal social media accounts to promote the employer’s business without permission? After the jump, a recent decision which makes a good argument for it…

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In a new survey conducted by Robert Half Technology, 1400 chief information officers (CIOs) from companies across the United States with 100 or more employees were asked: “Which of the following most closely describes your company’s policy on visiting social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, while at work?”

• Prohibited completely
• Permitted for business purposes only
• Permitted for limited personal use
• Permitted for any type of personal use
• Don’t know/no answer

I’ll cue up the music and list the results after the jump…

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“I just want to advise people watching at home, playing that now-popular drinking game of you take a shot whenever the Republicans saying something that’s not true: Please assign a designated driver. This is going to be a long afternoon.” 

— Anthony Weiner (from the House Floor on 1/19/11)

You can’t make this stuff up, yo.

For some employment-law implications and practical tips concerning Anthony Weiner’s gaffes — both online and offline — check out this post from employment attorney and blogger Philip Miles at Lawffice Space.