By: Smith Granade
The legal implications of using social media channels in the workplace are still largely unclear. Many publicly traded companies are guided by SEC regulations, which are largely ambiguous when it comes to social media usage. Blogs and twitter handles can sometimes cross the lines of SEC corporate communications regulations. This has caused many companies, including tech-savvy ones, to use caution. Fear of violating SEC disclosure rules has led many companies to shun the use of such popular venues as blogs and tweets. Those that do use such venues are increasingly including traditional disclaimers used in other communications in their social media endeavors.
Legal implications are particularly murky when it comes to employees’ use of social media tools. It is prudent that every company devise a policy for social media. Such a policy might include how an employee represents the company outside the work environment and how an employee can put the company’s best foot forward concerning corporate values.
For HR and recruitment professionals, social media tools provide a legal way to check job seekers’ backgrounds. Though legal, such usage of social media can still cause problems. For this reason it is also a good idea to devise a formal policy for the usage of social media to check candidate’s backgrounds to ensure every candidate is being fairly evaluated.
Michael Clarkson, Partner at Morgan Brown & Joy stresses the importance of addressing these challenges without ignoring the reality of today’s workplace. “Of course companies have to be aware of and sensitive to SEC issues and other legal concerns, including finding out an employee’s or prospective employee’s disability or other protected status through accessing social networking sites,” he explains. “Many companies are now addressing these concerns with well-written and proactive polices rather than by attempting—often unsuccessfully—to prevent the use of social networking in the workplace altogether.”
For more information, visit the following links:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124078135070257099.html
http://blog.stealthmode.com/2009/07/legal-ramifications-of-social-media-in-enterprise-2-0/
http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2009/05/legal-consequences-of-social-media.html
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