Friday, January 15, 2010

How can I be fired for a Facebook post?

Most employment in this country (excluding collective bargaining and key employment agreements) is “at-will”, which means that you can be fired for any legal work-related reason or no reason. So, your employer may generally terminate you for a Facebook public posting. If you posted in a user-restricted area, you may have an action based upon your employer’s unlawful access, although you may have no reasonable expectation of privacy posting on Facebook or similar social networks, especially where your friends can open up postings to others. Be careful. Employers may legally monitor your electronic activity occurring upon company-owned technology and may be sophisticated enough to already have adopted an electronic media and communications policy, including a policy against the use of social media for other than business-related purposes, and then only when approved in advance by your employer.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: The above material does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on. It does not create an attorney-client relationship. Each locality has differing laws. A legal matter cannot be satisfactorily resolved without a comprehensive review and analysis of all the unique facts and laws at issue by an able attorney. Your matter may result in a loss of rights if you do not timely retain such an attorney. For more information, please visit: http://www.BealBusinessLaw.com