Category Archives: Concerted activity

Concerted activity, Social networking

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:

Con­tin­ue read­ing Nav­i­gat­ing the Inter­sec­tion of Employ­ment Law and Social Media in West Vir­ginia →
Concerted activity, Employment at will rule, Harless wrongful discharge, National Labor Relations Act

When Personal Conduct Off the Clock Leads to Termination: Off-Duty Behavior and Employment Law

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Let’s talk about some­thing that’s become more and more rel­e­vant in today’s world—off-duty con­duct. What hap­pens when an employ­ee gets into trou­ble out­side of work? Can an employ­er fire some­one for some­thing they did on their own time? And how do courts draw the line between pri­vate behav­ior and job-relat­ed consequences?

The short answer: yes, employ­ers often can ter­mi­nate some­one for off-duty con­duct, but it depends heav­i­ly on the circumstances—and there are key legal pro­tec­tions that lim­it this right.

This area of law lives in a gray zone where employ­ment at-will, pub­lic pol­i­cy, dis­crim­i­na­tion statutes, and even social media all over­lap. Let’s dive in.

At-Will Employment and the Right to Terminate

As you know, West Vir­ginia is an at-will employ­ment state, like most of the coun­try. That means employ­ers can gen­er­al­ly ter­mi­nate an employ­ee for any reason—or no rea­son at all—so long as it’s not ille­gal or in vio­la­tion of a pub­lic pol­i­cy. See W. Va. Code § 21–5‑4 and Felix v. Grafton City Hos­pi­tal, 447 S.E.2d 418 (W. Va. 1994).

So, in the­o­ry, an employ­er could fire an employ­ee because of some­thing they did off the clock—say, a bar fight, a con­tro­ver­sial Face­book post, or a DUI arrest.

But the­o­ry and prac­tice aren’t always the same.

Con­tin­ue read­ing When Per­son­al Con­duct Off the Clock Leads to Ter­mi­na­tion: Off-Duty Behav­ior and Employ­ment Law →
Concerted activity, National Labor Relations Act, Privacy

The Legality of Workplace Surveillance: Balancing Business Interests and Employee Privacy

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In an era of remote work, dig­i­tal mon­i­tor­ing, and AI-pow­ered ana­lyt­ics, work­place sur­veil­lance is becom­ing more com­mon. Employ­ers want to ensure pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, pre­vent mis­con­duct, and pro­tect com­pa­ny assets. But where’s the line between rea­son­able mon­i­tor­ing and an inva­sion of pri­va­cy? Under­stand­ing the legal frame­work around work­place sur­veil­lance helps both employ­ers and employ­ees nav­i­gate this tricky issue.

Can Employers Legally Monitor Employees?

Yes, but with lim­i­ta­tions. Employ­ers gen­er­al­ly have the right to mon­i­tor employ­ees dur­ing work hours, par­tic­u­lar­ly if they’re using com­pa­ny-owned equip­ment or work­ing on com­pa­ny premis­es. How­ev­er, fed­er­al and state laws impose restric­tions, espe­cial­ly when it comes to elec­tron­ic com­mu­ni­ca­tions, video sur­veil­lance, and off-duty monitoring.

Federal Laws on Workplace Surveillance

  1. Elec­tron­ic Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Pri­va­cy Act (ECPA) (18 U.S.C. § 2510 et seq.)
  • Pro­hibits employ­ers from inter­cept­ing employ­ees’ pri­vate communications.
  • Allows mon­i­tor­ing of work­place com­mu­ni­ca­tions if there’s a legit­i­mate busi­ness pur­pose or employ­ee consent.
  • Does not cov­er stored emails and files, mean­ing employ­ers can access work-relat­ed dig­i­tal con­tent with­out vio­lat­ing the ECPA.
Con­tin­ue read­ing The Legal­i­ty of Work­place Sur­veil­lance: Bal­anc­ing Busi­ness Inter­ests and Employ­ee Pri­va­cy →