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Legal Marketing: Social media and protected speech

Guest post by: Tom Matte

Article Overview: A recent ruling on a social media lawsuit makes it more important than ever to create and educate your staff on your firm’s social media policy.

Legal Marketing: Social media and protected speech

A recent ruling on a social media lawsuit makes it more important than ever to create and educate your staff on your firm's social media policy.

By this point, we’ve all heard at least a story about someone that was reprimanded or fired because of what they posted on Facebook or Twitter. We can argue all day about the outcome of these decisions. Whether it be the teacher who was fired over her photos of her holding a wine glass while on vacation in Europe, the juror who was dismissed after asking her Facebook friends to weigh in on the trial she was deciding, or the football player who was kicked off the team for slamming the athletic department for removing another player off the team, what is said on social media really can have lasting repercussions.Until a few weeks ago, at least.

A recent case is causing quite a stir among employers. In short, a former employee of the American Medical Response of Connecticut and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) agreed to settle a lawsuit over her firing, which happened after she used Facebook to criticize her boss. The NLRB successfully argued that because the employee made the comments on her own computer on her own time, what she said was protected speech, even though it was specifically banned by the company’s social media policy.

What this will mean for employers over the long term is still to be determined, but it may be a fundamental shift. And it makes it even more important that you have a thorough social media policy for your firm. Make sure your employees know what is appropriate and what is not. And while you can’t truly control – or even punish – what they say on their own time, it pays to inform your staff of the long-term repercussions a hastily published rant can have. And be honest about it. We all have the occasional lousy day, and while it may be a bad idea, employees may take to the Internet to vent from time to time. You can’t do a whole lot about that. But doing so while on the company dime, or sharing anything that could be deemed confidential, is still completely unacceptable. The line between the two can be a thin one, and one that will continue to be defined in the courts. But having a frank and honest discussion could help you avoid future legal action and also create a working atmosphere of openness that everyone will appreciate.

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Article Tags: Atlanta, law firm marketing, law firms, legal marketing, social media



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