Technology, Law, and the Workplace: Week in Review

The news this week is another reminder that, although technology may appear to change everything, the same basic laws apply.  If you screen applicants via Facebook, the same background check and discrimination laws will apply.  If an employee engages in protected activity on social media, then protected activity laws still apply.  And if an employee sues you, you can seek discovery of social media evidence on the same basis of as other evidence.  These stories, and more, are discussed below.

As Apple's recent ad for the new iPad says, "technology alone is not enough."  Employers must remember that the basic employment and labor laws are not so quick to change.

Technology in the Workplace

• Using Social Networking Sites to Defend Your Company in Employment Law Cases (Connecticut Employment Law Blog)
• Your Most Important Witness in Defending an Employment Discrimination Claim? Your IT Staff? (Connecticut Employment Law Blog)
• NLRB Set to Issue Complaint Arising Out of Employee Twitter Comment (Labor Relations Today)
• Screening Job Candidates With Facebook (Part 1 and Part 2 on the Delaware Employment Law Blog)
• NLRB Issues Revised List of Matters to be Submitted to the Division of Advice (Labor Relations Counsel)--and the list includes social media.
• Huffington Post Is Target of Suit on Behalf of Bloggers (Media Decoder and Lawffice Space)
• In the name of productivity and consistency, employers should permit employee Internet access at work (Work Matters)

Technology and the Law More Generally

• MySpace evidence was inadmissible hearsay (Internet Cases)
• Senators Propose New Online Privacy Law (Media Decoder and WSJ Law Blog)
• A Date Goes Horribly Wrong: Should Dating Site Pay Up? (WSJ Law Blog)
• House Votes Against 'Net Neutrality' (NY Times)
• N.Y. Man Says New Evidence Shows He Owns Big Facebook Stake (Bits)
• Court Upholds Facebook Settlement With Twins (NY Times)
• An iPhone Left in a Locked Bathroom is Not "Abandoned" under the 4th Amendment (Bow Tie Law)

Technology in the News

• Do Cellphones Cause Brain Cancer? (NY Times)
• New Search Technology Is Enhanced With Videos (NY Times)
• Do Social Networks Make You Feel Left Out? (Gadgetwise)
• The New Gatekeepers of Media (NY Times)
• U.S. Lagging in Using Technology, Study Shows (NY Times)
• Data theives target e-mail addresses (USA Today)