Tag: hr and social media

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.

Workplace Harassment and Social Media

For decades, instances of sexual harassment have been brushed under the rug and business have only reacted when it’s “really bad” or “high profile.” But a staggering 1 in 5 Americans reports being sexually harassed at work and 75% of those who report their abuser experienced retaliation for speaking up.

Thanks to social media and the #MeToo movement, as well as the general movement to become better human beings, sexual harassment is no longer being tolerated.

So what can business owners and human resources managers do to make work a better place?

  • The first step is for business owners to educate themselves about sexual harassment, including the basics of harassment, discrimination, retaliation and workplace bullying. All managers should know their responsibilities and liability, as well as their duty to prevent harassment and abuse. It’s up to owners to lead the way in the workplace’s professional and respectful behavior. You should know how to receive and respond to a complaint and be familiar with confidentiality guidelines and the rights of all people involved.
  • Business owners must implement workplace strategies to prevent occurrences of harassment. Establish boundaries and policies regarding harassment and make sure all new and existing employees are trained in those areas and are taught how to file a complaint.
  • Business owners must enforce the company’s policies and practices. Offenders must be disciplined according to the severity of their behavior. Penalties could include one-on-one sensitivity training, suspension with or without pay, or possible termination. When policies and procedures are enforced, it demonstrates a no tolerance stance to employees and will further discourage workplace harassment.

 

 

workplace sexual harassment

  • Don’t ignore your employees when they say they’re being harassed. It can be isolating, humiliating, and stressful for an employee to come forward about an abuser, particularly if that person has corporate power over them or is well-liked by peers.
  • Last, look for indicators of abusive behavior before hiring. You’re probably asking yourself how can you possibly spot a harasser before hiring them? Check social media! This is a far better method than standard or criminal background checks used widely in business today. Social media screening can identify potential harassers by flagging material that willingly and publicly disparages women or minorities online, or that blatantly promotes sex or violence.
  • Sexual harassment is a complex issue and as difficult as it may be, the effort to prevent workplace harassment matters. Aside from the distress caused by workplace harassment, discrimination and retaliation, the behavior is illegal. Anyone that commits these acts is a tremendous liability. Addressing harassment proactively instead of reactively avoids personal, business and legal problems.

It’s also important to provide resources for anyone experiencing abuse, and make sure your HR team knows what to do when harassment is reported. If an employee does not feel safe reporting the problem, they probably won’t, and this means the problem will only grow as an attacker feels trapped by silence. That spells disaster for employee morale as well as for your business’s reputation if you’re caught with a harassment scandal you did nothing to prevent.

HR & Social Media: Protected Class Guide

You can’t unring the bell … why put yourself (or your company) in a potentially sticky situation when it comes to hiring and the use of social media as part of the hiring process?

HR departments are using social media as a tool for potential employee research, though this has been one industry that is slow to warm up to the idea. In some cases, it may simply be that the company doesn’t have enough manpower or time to devote to another task; for others, they may see it as a still very grey, muddy area they don’t want to get involved in.

Part of the fear is knowing what’s okay and not okay to see, and how to make sure your hiring managers are only seeing the “right” content. There are many ways to work around this, including using a third party vendor or making sure that the person doing the social media research is not the hiring manager; by doing this, you can make sure that your company is in compliance with the FCRA.

Did you know there are federal and state specific protected classes? If your company spans the country, are you aware of the different classes?

Here are some interesting examples:

  • Whether a candidate obtained a GED vs graduating from high school is a protected class in PA
  • Place of birth is a protected class specific to VT
  • Height & weight is protected in MI
  • The following states only follow federal statutes and do not have any state specific protected classes: AL, ID, MS, SC

These are just some of the protected classes; while these may seem like areas that would not come to light when viewing a person’s social media sites, it’s possible. And what about the more commonly shared pieces of information, such as marital status, whether or not someone is a parent, or mental illness history? You never know to what extent people share their lives online anymore; it’s best to err on the side of caution.

If you are handling social media background checks internally, we’d like to share a list of protected classes at the federal and state levels.

Federal

  • Age (over 40)
  • Color
  • Disability
  • Genetic Information
  • Military Status
  • National Origin
  • Race
  • Religion
  • Sex (includes pregnancy)
  • Veteran Status
State
Protected classes vary by state. Click here to see the state by state list of protected classes