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Navigating the Intersection of Employment Law and Social Media in West Virginia

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I’m fol­low­ing up on my ear­li­er arti­cle about social media issues in the workplace.

Introduction

In today’s dig­i­tal age, social media plat­forms like Face­book, Twit­ter, LinkedIn, and Insta­gram have become inte­gral to our dai­ly lives. For employ­ers and employ­ees alike, these plat­forms offer oppor­tu­ni­ties for net­work­ing, brand­ing, and per­son­al expres­sion. How­ev­er, they also present chal­lenges when per­son­al posts inter­sect with pro­fes­sion­al respon­si­bil­i­ties. In West Vir­ginia, under­stand­ing how employ­ment law inter­acts with social media use is cru­cial for both employ­ers aim­ing to pro­tect their busi­ness inter­ests and employ­ees safe­guard­ing their rights.

Social Media Policies: A Double-Edged Sword

Employ­ers often imple­ment social media poli­cies to main­tain work­place deco­rum and pro­tect pro­pri­etary infor­ma­tion. These poli­cies may address issues such as:

  • Pro­hibit­ing the dis­clo­sure of con­fi­den­tial com­pa­ny information.
  • Restrict­ing the use of com­pa­ny logos or trade­marks with­out authorization.
  • Guid­ing employ­ees on appro­pri­ate online con­duct that reflects the com­pa­ny’s values.

While these poli­cies are essen­tial, they must be care­ful­ly craft­ed to avoid infring­ing on employ­ees’ rights. For instance, over­ly broad poli­cies that pro­hib­it any neg­a­tive com­ments about the com­pa­ny could vio­late the Nation­al Labor Rela­tions Act (NLRA), which pro­tects employ­ees’ rights to dis­cuss work con­di­tions and union­iza­tion efforts.

Employee Rights Under the NLRA

The NLRA, enforced by the Nation­al Labor Rela­tions Board (NLRB), safe­guards employ­ees’ rights to engage in “con­cert­ed activ­i­ties” for mutu­al aid or pro­tec­tion. This includes dis­cus­sions about wages, work­ing con­di­tions, and oth­er employ­ment-relat­ed issues, even when con­duct­ed on social media platforms.

In the case of Three D, LLC d/b/a Triple Play Sports Bar and Grille v. NLRB, 629 F. App’x 33 (2d Cir. 2015), the court upheld the NLR­B’s deci­sion that an employ­ee’s Face­book “Like” of a post crit­i­ciz­ing the employ­er’s tax with­hold­ing prac­tices was pro­tect­ed activ­i­ty under the NLRA. This case under­scores the impor­tance of dis­tin­guish­ing between unpro­tect­ed per­son­al griev­ances and pro­tect­ed con­cert­ed activities.

At-Will Employment and Social Media

West Vir­ginia adheres to the at-will employ­ment doc­trine, allow­ing employ­ers to ter­mi­nate employ­ees for any rea­son not pro­hib­it­ed by law. How­ev­er, this does not grant carte blanche to fire employ­ees over social media posts. Ter­mi­na­tions based on posts that involve pro­tect­ed char­ac­ter­is­tics, such as race, reli­gion, or gen­der, could lead to claims under anti-dis­crim­i­na­tion laws like the West Vir­ginia Human Rights Act (W. Va. Code § 5–11‑1 et seq.).

Off-Duty Conduct and Free Speech

Employ­ees often assume that their off-duty social media activ­i­ty is pro­tect­ed under the First Amend­ment. How­ev­er, the First Amend­ment restricts gov­ern­ment actions, not those of pri­vate employ­ers. There­fore, pri­vate-sec­tor employ­ees in West Vir­ginia do not have con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­tec­tion for their social media posts. Nonethe­less, cer­tain off-duty con­duct is pro­tect­ed under state laws. For exam­ple, W. Va. Code § 21–3‑19 pro­hibits employ­ers from dis­crim­i­nat­ing against employ­ees for using tobac­co prod­ucts dur­ing non­work­ing hours off the employ­er’s premises.

Best Practices for Employers

To nav­i­gate the com­plex­i­ties of social media and employ­ment law, employ­ers should:

  1. Devel­op Clear Social Media Poli­cies: Ensure poli­cies are spe­cif­ic, law­ful, and com­mu­ni­cat­ed effec­tive­ly to all employees.
  2. Train Man­age­ment: Edu­cate super­vi­sors on dis­tin­guish­ing between pro­tect­ed and unpro­tect­ed employ­ee activ­i­ties online.
  3. Con­sis­tent Enforce­ment: Apply poli­cies uni­form­ly to avoid claims of dis­crim­i­na­tion or retaliation.
  4. Con­sult Legal Coun­sel: Before tak­ing adverse action based on social media activ­i­ty, seek legal advice to assess poten­tial legal risks.

Best Practices for Employees

Employ­ees should:

  1. Under­stand Com­pa­ny Poli­cies: Famil­iar­ize them­selves with their employ­er’s social media guidelines.
  2. Exer­cise Cau­tion Online: Be mind­ful that posts, even on per­son­al accounts, can have pro­fes­sion­al repercussions.
  3. Know Their Rights: Rec­og­nize pro­tect­ed activ­i­ties under the NLRA and state laws.
  4. Seek Clar­i­fi­ca­tion: If unsure about the impli­ca­tions of a social media post, con­sult with HR or legal counsel.

Conclusion

The inter­sec­tion of social media and employ­ment law is a dynam­ic and evolv­ing land­scape. In West Vir­ginia, both employ­ers and employ­ees must remain vig­i­lant and informed to nav­i­gate this ter­rain effectively. 

Drew M. Capuder
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