Seyfarth Synopsis: Collaborations with athletes, actors, and singers have always been a great way for companies to grow their brand recognition and create profitable products. Similar to celebrity-filled ads in the Super Bowl, collaborative relationships between influencers and companies on social media continue to be prevalent. With California’s unique laws on classifying independent contractors, including how “work made for
Continue Reading Avoiding Fumbles and Penalties in California with Influencer ClassificationEmployer “Dislike” Button—Disciplining Employees For Noxious Social Media Posts
Seyfarth Synopsis: With the most contentious election of our lifetimes fast approaching, we might expect employees to engage in political conduct and share strong, controversial opinions while off duty, especially on social media. What can employers do about employees who share messages the employer “dislikes”? California, of course, does not provide many easy answers.
What’s the “Story” With an Employer
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Hiring Influencers: Are You Playing With Fyre?
Seyfarth Synopsis: Companies marketing through social media are likely familiar with social media influencers like the Kardashian/Jenners in cosmetics, DanTDM in gaming, and Kayla Itsines in fitness. California companies using the services of such influencers must be mindful, as always, of California peculiarities when it comes to classifying these individuals as contractors or employees.
As anyone who
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Is Looking For Applicants On Social Media Looking For Trouble?
Seyfarth Synopsis: While targeted social media ads may help employers find potential applicants with specific skill sets, inartfully crafted ads may open the door to discrimination claims, particularly in California.
We’ve already told you about the parade of horribles employers may face when using social media when making hiring decisions.
Well, more social media, more problems.
Micro-Targeting May Open The
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Raging Bull: Getting Beat Up On Glassdoor?
Seyfarth Synopsis: Even if bad Glassdoor reviews have you feeling like you need to fight back, employers should stay out of the ring, and instead implement social media policies that clearly define prohibited behavior and disclosures, while spelling out the consequences for violations. Employers must not retaliate against employees for their lawful out-of-office behavior.
People are used to sharing everything
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Defamation: Containing Fire and Fury in the Deep Blue State
Seyfarth Synopsis: As Californians grow tragically familiar with wildfire, California employers face another threat of fire in the form of defamation lawsuits. The rapidly burning #MeToo anti-harassment movement, and constant talk in the news about peoples’ reputations being destroyed, has rained down fire and fury for California employers forced to consider possible defamation lawsuits by current or former employees.
Stoking
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Not Just Sticks and Stones: When Should Employers Step In?
Seyfarth Synopsis: Private employers can face competing obligations when it comes to responding to employees’ expressive conduct. Employee rights may collide with employer obligations to maintain a safe and harassment-free work environment, not to mention the employer’s interest in maintaining productivity and avoiding adverse publicity. Here are some guiding principles.
“How’s work?” A common question, whether at a party, catching
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What’s Not to Like? Using Social Media In Employment Litigation
Seyfarth Synopsis: Social media information—pictures, status updates, location markers, “likes,” groups, and associated friends, all from the owner’s perspective and documented in real time—can be a goldmine of information to defend employment lawsuits. Read on for thoughts on how to extract and refine this information, and what limits to observe in using it.
Social media and discovery is an
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About That Trade Secret Leak: It’s From Inside The Business!
Seyfarth Synopsis: Protecting trade secrets from employee theft requires more than using an NDA when onboarding employees. If businesses want to protect confidential information, they need a cradle-to-grave approach, reiterating employee obligations regularly, including during exit interviews. (Yes, you need to do exit interviews!)
Headline stories in intellectual property theft tend to involve foreign hackers engaged in high-tech attacks to
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Social Media Nightmares? New Desktop Reference Scares Them Away!
We all know that social media and privacy issues in the workplace can be a bone-chilling proposition. Before you go snooping into your employees’ social media accounts to see whether it’s filled with tricks or tweets, please be sure to review our frightfully informative 2015-2016 Edition of the Social Media Privacy Legislation Desktop Reference. Without it, one never knows what
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