Technology, Law, and the Workplace: Week in Review

This Week in Review highlights the divide between on-duty and off-duty conduct of employees. Several articles from the last week involve stories about employee use of work computers to check Facebook and personal email, look at pornography, and access confidential medical information. This week’s round-up also features articles addressing the uncertainty faced by employers who attempt to regulate the off-duty conduct of employees. Although a recent NLRB Advice Memorandum upheld discipline of an employee for controversial statements on Twitter, another article asks whether employers should even address off-duty conduct in social media policies.

Because the law is so unsettled in this area, there are more questions than answers for employers. However, employers who wish to regulate off-duty conduct should start by carefully defining the conduct involved and avoiding overbroad policies that could be read to restrict employees’ legal rights.

Technology in the Workplace

• NLRB’s Office of General Counsel Issues New Advice Memorandum on Social Media (Employer Law Report)
• Employee did not violate Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by checking Facebook and personal email at work (Internet Cases)
• DOL – Timekeeper App (The Modern Workplace, as well as Ohio Employer’s Law Blog, Delaware Employment Law Blog, Labor Related, and many others!)
• Firing of Teacher’s Union Activist for Viewing Porn in Violation of School District’s Computer Usage Policy Upheld in Face of First Amendment and Other Challenges (Employment Matters)
• 9th Circuit Applies CFAA to Disloyal Employee (Delaware Employment Law Blog)
• Allina fires 32 employees over patient privacy (Star Tribune, MSP Business Journal)
• Should Your Social-Media Policy Address Off-Duty Conduct? (Delaware Employment Law Blog)

Technology and the Law More Generally

• Congress Hears From Apple and Google on Privacy (Media Decoder)
• Federal Judge Accuses DC of a Discovery Violation ‘of Exotic Magnitude’ (ABA Journal)
• Senator Rockefeller Introduces the Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2011 (Privacy & Information Security Law Blog)
• Maryland’s Social Media Evidence Authentication Decision Provides Much Needed Guidance (Shear on Social Media Law)

Technology in the News

• Foldable Device Screens, Coming Soon to Your Pocket (Fast Company)
• Google Lobbies Nevada for Laws to Allow Self-Driving Cars (ABA Journal)
• Stars Gain Control of Online Images (NY Times)
• Microsoft to Buy Skype for $8.5 Billion (Deal Book)
• There’s No Data Sheriff on the Wild Web (NY Times)
• The Wall Street Journal Launches WikiLeaks Competitor (Fast Company)