Privacy

How to handle requests for confidentiality

05/12/2014

Say an employee stops by your office with a troubled look on her face. She has a complaint, but wants to speak with you “off the record.” Can you comply with her request for confidentiality? Should you?

San Francisco’s Fair Chance law limits criminal background checks

03/27/2014

San Francisco has “banned-the-box” on employment applications and has added other restrictions on private employers’ ability to obtain and use criminal history information. The City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed the Fair Chance Ordinance in February, and the new law goes into effect Aug. 13.

Lesson from the Facebook ‘Suck it’ case: Tweak your confidentiality agreement

03/25/2014

Confidentiality agreements—whether they’re in employee handbooks or legal settlements—typically require employees to refrain from talking or writing about some type of company secret. But as this new case shows, it’s wise to make clear that such disclosures are also banned on social media.

Can we ask applicant for his social media log-in info and password?

02/28/2014

Q. I am thinking about hiring someone, but would first like to check his Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts to gain a more complete picture of the candidate. May I ask the applicant for log-in and password access to his accounts?

When can we order a drug or alcohol test?

02/26/2014

Q. An employee sometimes shows up looking like he came from a party, with glazed eyes and slurred speech. Can we make him take a drug or alcohol test?

Snapchat for business? Beware risks of self-destructing texts

02/24/2014

No laws specifically prohibit auto-destruct messaging in business, but employers should be wary of the potential employment-law downside.

How to handle confidential information when onboarding new hires

02/19/2014

Although most employers are sensitive to the need to protect their own company’s confidential information, they may not be as attuned as they should be to the other side of the coin. A recent trial experience provided an extraordinary lesson on the significant legal exposure an employer can face when hiring employees from a competitor.

The evidence is on Facebook: Can we fire for inappropriate behavior while wearing our logo?

01/22/2014

Q. One of our employees recently posted a picture of himself on Facebook doing something inappropriate while wearing a T-shirt with our company logo on it. The inappropriate conduct didn’t occur at a work event, but we’re concerned that the T-shirt connects us to the conduct. We would like to fire him immediately, but we hesitate because the termination is based on his personal Facebook page.

In case of he-said/she-said harassment, can we make employees hand over text messages?

01/22/2014

Q. One of our employees was recently accused of sending sexually harassing texts to another employee. The complaining employee said she was so upset by the texts she deleted them; the accused employee adamantly denies sending the texts. Can we search the accused employee’s cellphone or is there a way to retrieve the messages from the complaining employee’s phone?

Possible porn: Can we search computers?

01/03/2014

Q. An employee recently complained about receiving inappropriate email messages and links to pornographic websites from some of her co-workers. We would like to review the messages to figure out exactly how large a problem we face. Can we do this?