Orlando partner Rexford Stephens was quoted in the July 19, 2009, Business Insurance magazine article, "Getting Burned: Employees' Social Networking Raises Employers' Liability Risk."
According to the article, as more and more workers tweet on Twitter or post on Facebook, employers have been slow to establish policies that would protect them from potential liability stemming from their employees' participation in the social networking sites. Employers could find themselves held liable for employees' activity on these sites, regardless of whether their participation is on the job or during their off hours, according to the article.
Stephens said potential liability issues include sexual harassment, bullying and threats of violence. Employee comments about other companies or their products also could raise liability issues for employers; there also is concern about disclosure of confidential and proprietary information from company-endorsed or nonendorsed social networking applications, said Stephens.
Stephens suggests that a first step is to "assess the company's culture, because the company has to decide what its core values are," and whether it wants to encourage employees' use of social networking sites. Next, "understand that there is only a certain amount of control that a company has over its own endorsed social media applications, and especially away from the workplace," he said. Then, assuming the company has one, "convert your existing policy to cover these social networking applications," Stephens suggested. "Many companies have already addressed electronic communications, specifically e-mails, and likely have already addressed Internet use at work."