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
Everything Employers Need To Know About Social Media In the Workplace In 2013
I will be conducting a webinar on January 15, 2013 on legal issues of social media in the workplace. The presentation will cover everything a California employer needs to know about social media in the modern workplace of 2013:
- Discussion on the new law (Labor Code section 960) that prohibits employers from asking applicants and
Surprise – Employers Face New Employee Personnel Records Obligations in 2013, But The Term “Personnel Records” Is Not Defined
California employers face a law (AB 2674) taking effect on January 1, 2013 (click here for a list of other new employment laws effective in 2013), which changes their duties to maintain and provide personnel records to current and former employees. The law amends Labor Code section 1198.5 pertaining to "personnel records". When
Proposed Bill Gives NLRB And OSHA Right To Review Emails And Other Electronic Information Without Search Warrant
There is concern about a bill making its way through the Senate that would drastically change individuals’ privacy interest in their internet communications and “cloud” information. The bill, named the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2011, originally started out as offering more protection to individuals, but after law enforcement expressed its concerns about
NLRB Issues New Memo On Validity of Social Media Policies
In October 2012 the National Labor Relations Board issued an advice memorandum regarding whether an employer’s social media policy violated the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). This memorandum is of importance because the NLRB has issued findings recently that employer’s seemingly neutral social media policies violated employees’ rights under the NLRA. Section 7 of the
Chris Sacca – Bold Humility
I had the opportunity to attend an event with Chris Sacca last night. He is a venture capitalist who 
has been living part-time in Los Angeles recently. He spoke about how he grew up in the investment scene in Silicon Valley. He got his feet wet in investing when he started day trading law school
Inside Litigation Over Social Media Accounts – Why Employers Should Have Social Media Policies – Part I
As previously written about on this blog, the case PhoneDog v. Kravtiz is one of the first cases in the country to deal with substantive ownership issues arising out of social media accounts used in the workplace. As companies are moving more and more away from traditional marketing and advertising towards the use of
Does the Company or the Employee Own a Twitter Account?
Imagine you are an employer and your employee in charge of your social media accounts leaves, keeps the accounts, and begins using the accounts while working for a competitor. Conversely, imagine you are an employee, leave employment to work for a competitor and your former employer sues you for $350,000 because you refuse to stop
Employees Need To Take Control Of Their Online Identities
The recent (and not too recent) flurry of attention that has been given to the issue regarding whether 
employers can ask applicants and employees for their Facebook passwords is a good review of what is appropriate conduct for employers, but it is also a good reminder to employees that what they do online is of