In a BLR webinar titled “Social Media Policies: What Every Company Should Have in their Handbooks to Avoid Potential Legal Issues,” Jeffrey Schultz and John Vering discussed key elements to consider when drafting a social media policy in your employee handbook.

• Will the policy be a stand-alone document, or included in an employee manual?
• Does the relevant industry or profession have specialized rules or regulations concerning communication?
• Will employees be allowed to use social networks during working hours?
• Do employees have access to confidential company information or trade secrets? How will you protect trade secrets?
  • In the webinar, Schultz noted: “the disclosure of confidential information about a company, about a company’s products, or R&D, or whatever other type of information the company wants to protect—there’s certainly the potential for inadvertent disclosure of intellectual property through the use of social media.”
• Do employees have access to sensitive customer information?
• How can employees use the corporate brand on social networks?
• Will the company allow company groups to be formed on social networks that identify the employer within the group context?
• What are the penalties for employees who violate your policy?
• What is your policy on un-friending and delinking sales contacts upon termination?
• Are there exceptions for employee-owned smart phones? Dual use smart phones?

With all of these questions answered, employers also need to be wary of being too restrictive and running afoul of employee rights from the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which gives employees protection on some activities. Watch out for policies that would unreasonably tend to chill employees (union or non-union) in their rights to discuss wages, working conditions, or unionization.

Last, but certainly not least, be sure to reserve the right to modify the policy so that you can keep up with changing technologies. An effective social media policy and proper enforcement of the rules and regulations can not only keep productivity up, but it will also decrease your susceptibility to legal claims.

Tip for employers. Make sure you are prepared before you set out to draft a social media policy. In a related article, Schultz and Vering discuss three questions employers should ask themselves before crafting a social media policy. Answering these questions will give you a big-picture overview of what your goals are.

For more information on social media policies for employee manuals, order the webinar recording. To register for a future webinar, visit http://catalog.blr.com/audio.

Attorney John Vering leads the Employment and Labor Law practice group of Armstrong Teasdale. A strong litigator, he works with both local and national organizations in a wide array of industries on a wide variety of employment lawsuits and business disputes.

Attorney Jeff Schultz is a business and commercial litigator with Armstrong Teasdale and is co-chair of the Social Media Practice Group. Much of his practice focuses on counseling individuals and organizations through complex disputes involving the misappropriation of trade secrets, computer tampering, non-disclosure agreements, non-compete agreements, commercial contracts, and social networking law.