Employees’ Rights & Social Media

Employees and social media have been a sore spot for employers over the years. Back in the early years of social media, many employers were concerned about the amount of time employees spent in social media during an average work day. Their concerns centered around productivity, rather than what the employees were posting about.

Fast forward to 2020, and we have an entirely new set of problems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, essential worker’s were posting all over social media about their work conditions and at that time lack of PPE. Everyone knows that if you want to get your concerns noticed, turn to social media. It has become one of the most effective ways in which to communicate today on a large scale. If you are lucky, you will be picked up by the news media and your story will become national news.

Social Media and The Whistle Blower

Erin Marie Olszewski is a Nurse-turned-investigative journalist, who has spent the last few months on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, on the inside in two radically different settings. Two hospitals. One private, the other public. One in Florida, the other in New York.

As you can imagine, if you know her story, she has been scrutinized in the media. Some applaud her courage while others try to rip apart her story. So we wondered, who is Erin Olszewski and what does her social media story look like?

We conducted a deep web scan on Erin. Surprisingly, some of her prior “life” was still up for anyone to discover. The deep web scan revealed, as they many times they do, a story of who Erin is and what she has been involved with leading up to her fame.

You can view her entire deep web scan here. (Erin Olszewski) Taking a look at an employee’s online, publicly available, social media content, provides a story board of the person’s life to date. It can reveal a lot about a person, good and bad. In Erin’s case, one is left with the impression that she can be a bit of a rebel rouser. It also shows however, that she is also someone who stands up for what she believes in and isn’t afraid of the consequences.

Can an Employee Get Fired?

This is the new million dollar question. The short answer is, it depends. We did a little research and found the following as a place to start.

  • Some states and localities may have different laws or additional laws.
  • Federal Laws: First Amendment: Free Speech. Doesn’t state that employees or individuals can say whatever they want wherever they want without consequence.
  • According to the National Labor Relations Act: An employee’s comments on social media are generally not protected if they are mere gripes not made in relation to group activity among employees.

NLRA Board Decisions

In the fall of 2012, the Board began to issue decisions in cases involving discipline for social media postings. Board decisions are significant because they establish precedent in novel cases such as these.

*In the first such decision, issued on September 28, 2012, the Board found that the firing of a BMW salesman for photos and comments posted to his Facebook page did not violate federal labor law. The question came down to whether the salesman was fired exclusively for posting photos of an embarrassing accident at an adjacent Land Rover dealership, which did not involve fellow employees, or for posting mocking comments and photos with co-workers about serving hot dogs at a luxury BMW car event. Both sets of photos were posted to Facebook on the same day; a week later, the salesman was fired. The Board agreed with the Administrative Law Judge that the salesman was fired solely for the photos he posted of a Land Rover incident, which was not concerted activity and so was not protected.

*National Labor Relations Act’s website.

In the end, companies of all sizes should have a written social media policy in place. As an added precaution, lawyers have advised social media to be added to any anti- harassment policy as well.

If you are lucky, you will go viral, get picked up by a news outlet, and your story will become national news. Just like what happened with Erin Marie Olszewski.

The COVID-19 Fraud Storm Continues…

When we think of fraud due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we think of individual people committing fraud. After all we are only too familiar with workman’s comp insurance scams & most recently, employee fraud. We have discussed in a previous blog post how one Fortune 500 company had a loss of over $100,000.00 after an employee falsely said they were tested positive for COVID-19.

The story now continues with business fraud. Small businesses across the country have been nearly put out of business due COVID-19. Many have been able to stay afloat from government PPP funding. However, some are sadly starting to take matters into their own hands.

What the Experts Predict

Data analytics provider Verisk has alerted folks that COVID has created opportunities to commit medical billing fraud and abuse. In April, the company said its data reported a 14% increase in claims linked to suspicious billing practices.

Verisk said its Insurance Service Office MedSentry team has identified several COVID-19 medical billing schemes. Among them:

  • Unlisted lab tests. There was no specific ICD-10 code for COVID-19 until April 1. Prior to then any COVID-19 tests were likely coded as “unlisted laboratory tests.” Claims for a patient who has received both an unlisted laboratory test and a COVID-19 test may be cause for scrutiny.
  • Hands-on therapy charges. Many providers eliminated in-office visits and began to offer telehealth sessions. Verisk said bills for hands-on therapies such as chiropractors, physical therapists, and massage therapists should be examined.
  • Unnecessary durable medical equipment. Insurers should be wary of misleading claims for gloves, face masks, thermometers, and similar items, especially for patients who have not been tested for COVID-19 or have tested negative, Verisk said.

Social Media Monitoring

Work is being done to create a software that allows the user to find unapparent connections between all people in a claim to uncover potential scams. While it has a way to go in development, if created, it would be an excellent resource to help investigators identify potential scams and link the culprits.

Google Search – Trending

Google searches can be very revealing and a good indicator of what people are thinking of doing. The question, “How to Burn a Car” has increased 125% since January of this year.

setting car on fire

Not surprising, Google is showing some strong trending in Employment Fraud. The graph below shows Google trends over the last 90 days.

We will continue to report our findings during the pandemic.

Employee Ethics & Fraud During COVID-19

Back in April we wrote about fraud predictions during the COVID 19 pandemic. Back then most of what was out there was PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) fraud. We saw a lot of fakes and it even began to show up in COVID testing. Much of this was controlled by the FDA who provided consumers with updated information on their website on a regular basis.

Once the government released stimulus checks, the scams began. Scammers were contacting people through email, telling them that their check, as part of the stimulus package responding to COVID-19, is already waiting for them and that all they need to do is to provide personal information. This included bank account numbers and Social Security Numbers, which are the key pieces of information needed to perpetrate identity theft.

 Bruce Dorris, J.D, CFE, CPA, President and CEO of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, explains that in the current conditions, we can expect to see a number of long-lasting implications. One important one being an explosion of fraud in the coming years — and organizations need to brace themselves.

Corporate Employee Misconduct

Some of our corporate associates have expressed concern with what lies ahead as they navigate the uncertain waters of the Pandemic. One company in particular needed to shut down an entire plant because an employee tested positive for COVID. The employee presented the company with a falsified COVID 19 medical claim. He went as far to provide an excuse letter from a medical facility appearing to corroborate the test results. In concern for its employees and customers, the company closed its facility for cleaning and paid its employees during the shutdown. This caused a loss in excess of $100,000 to the corporation and the unnecessary quarantine of several of the defendant’s coworkers. He is now released on $15,000.00 bail awaiting trial.

FBI Recommendations

The FBI has recommended that companies be particularly alert during the pandemic about possible fraudulent work excuse letters, as they are finding more people attempting to exploit the situation for personal or financial gain.  Submission of a medical claim proven to be false could lead to criminal penalties, including fines or imprisonment by U.S. federal and other authorities.

What This Will Mean for the Private Investigator

Investigation around employee misconduct is an area that could prove to be quite lucrative for investigators. ABC News in Phoenix, AZ did a story on how local investigators are getting calls from corporations to check up on employees who should be working from home. This is not an isolated incident.

I believe we will see more and more fraud cases such as this over the next year if not longer.

How to Catch a Cheater: The Web & Infidelity

We see our fair share of infidelity cases in which a Private Investigator wants to conduct a deep web scan on the person accused of cheating. This is always a mixed bag for us because there isn’t any software out there than can pull any or all data from dating sites. Most dating sites are password protected sites and require the user to have an account in order to search. And sometimes it is even hard to search when you have set up a fake account.

If you are willing to take the time to set up fake accounts, it may be worth it in the long run. This is especially true if you take on cases like this. You may even find it helpful in other online investigations too. Here is how.

Dating Sites

Match.com

  1. Must have an account to search.
  2. Create a fake account to get started.
  3. Change your settings so you can be invisible and therefore not be able to be “searched”.

From there you can search. This is a great place to start any OSINT investigation because if a person is on a dating site, chances are they will be much more open there. You may be able to gather quite a bit of information that will help you locate your target on other sites, such as social media.

There are a lot more photos. Most people on a dating site want people to see them and therefore you will have more to go on.

Ashely Madison

Ashely Madison was hacked in 2015. Back then, hackers calling themselves the “Impact Team” stole 32 million records from users of the world’s leading extramarital affair site. As datasets go, this is one that’s tailor-made for extortion. Many people claimed to have the data dump, most proved to be untrue. I would bet that it made its way to the Dark Web however where information could be obtained for a fee and used in extortion cases. This one may be worth creating a fake account in. If you are not aware, it is designed for people who are married, but are looking to have an affair.

Meetup.com

This site is not exclusively used for dating. There are many different types of groups based on a particular interest. It may be a good one to dive into if you know some personal information on your target. For example, is your target a musician? There may be a group for that locally. It may seem like a long shot, but if you have the time, it could be worth the effort.

What About the Deep Web?

Diving into the deep web may help us to find a breadcrumb that could lead us to information that can help in surveillance. It may be a trend that is picked up relative to being part of the same forum, group or professional network. In cases like an infidelity case, the more data we have the better. One common thread, in discovering a cheating spouse, is the use of multiple email addresses. Try searching using all the email addresses because one of them just may be tied to a profile identifying the target. Almost any group or site online requires you to give an email address.

As you can see it is not always easy. While it may seem impossible, if you are willing to devote time to it, you may find what you are looking for.