Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly emerged as a transformative force across various industries, revolutionizing the way we work and live. As we have previously written about here, AI has huge potential benefits for employers. However, as the technology continues to advance, its impact on the workforce raises important questions about discrimination, privacy, and accountability.
privacy
The Work Environment In Ten Years
Fundamentally, the work environment has not changed much over the last 100 years, and I believe we are on the verge of major changes and disruptions. These changes are deeper than the issues that COVID raised. Even if remote work is here to stay, this development does not impact many industries, such as the service…
Lessons from Yelp: Responding to employee complaints on social media
Today’s Friday’s Five focuses on five aspects of responding to employee’s complaints made on social media. Yelp has been in the news recently (Another ex-Yelp worker is calling the company out after being fired, CNNMoney; Yelp’s Tweet About Fired Employee Could Spell Legal Trouble, Inc.com [I was quoted in this article]), for…
Can California employers monitor employees’ internet usage under new Labor Code section 980?
California passed a new law taking effect January 1, 2013 that prohibits employers from “requiring or requesting” employees and applicants to provide their passwords to social media accounts. This law was passed after a few cases made the news where employers were actually asking for this information. As I argued before, this law was probably…
Zuckerberg’s lesson in online privacy – does it exist?
There was a good reminder to everyone over Christmas about online “privacy.” Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a picture of her and her family on FB, and it was shared by another person on twitter. The photo was one of the Zuckerberg family using Facebook’s new Poke functionality…
Employers Requiring Employees To Provide Facebook Passwords
There are more reports of employers requiring applicants and employees to provide their passwords to their Facebook pages so that the employers can get a more accurate view of the employee’s character. I wrote about this issue a couple of years ago regarding the City of Bozeman requiring passwords from applicants. Apart from being…
Waitress fired for Facebook post
This week the internet is buzzing about a waitress who was fired for making disparaging comments on Facebook about a customer. It was inevitable, and if employers have not realized it yet, this story should bring the point home that social networking is yet another issue employers need to take a proactive step in…
Understanding Privacy Settings For Facebook
Yes, you are still reading the California Employment Law Report and not a tech blog. But since social networking, privacy and how these issues are permeating the workplace, I wanted to pass this New York Times article along to readers that describes all of the different privacy settings in Facebook.
If you think employers are…
California Supreme Court holds employees’ privacy rights not invaded by video surveillance
Plaintiffs Hernandez and Lopez were employed by Hillsides Children Center, Inc., which provided services to children with special needs and who were abused. Hillsides discovered that someone was accessing pornographic websites on a computer located in the Plaintiffs’ office late in the evening.
The employer, citing its mission to protect abused children and to protect…
Job Applicants Asked To Provide Their Passwords To Social Networking Sites
The City of Bozeman, Montana asked job applicants to provide their user names and login information to common social networking sites on their job applications. As you may expect, this has caused a major uproar from privacy groups.
Just over one-year ago, I was asked by employers about what legalities were involved in Googling…