Brian E. Koegle Reveals ‘The Challenges of Social Media in the Workplace’

Like poor Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, 21st Century business owners have been thrown by the Internet tornado far from Kansas and into the social media challenges of a perpetually connected Oz. In a fascinating presentation at the latest Business Growth Workshop at the University Club in Pasadena, employment and labor law attorney Brian E. Koegle deconstructed the modern challenges of social media in the workplace. When it comes to social media and the ever-present Internet access provided by Smartphone technology, we’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.

By illuminating the challenges of “Tweets, Texts and Posts… oh my!” Brian E. Koegle informed a group of Pasadena business owners of the potential expenses and damages looming. When one of the common missteps pertaining to social media that employers seem to be tripping over is made, the price has proven to be shockingly high. As a result, the smart approach to take is that it’s better to be safe than sorry when instituting social media policies.

By failing to establish social media best practices within and legal safeguards for their company, company owners are making mistakes at a rate that does not seem to be in abeyance. Despite major legal cases going against employers in both state and federal courts, such missteps continue across the country and in all types of industries. As Brian E. Koegle explained to his attentive audience, “Business leaders are always going to make mistakes when it comes to the law, and social media has led to the need of new best practices to keep your business safe.”

According to Brian E. Koegle, the three most common employer missteps when it comes to social media are the following:

1. Illegal background checks and hiring discrimination as a result
2. Employee disclosure of trade secrets and proprietary content
3. Unreasonable limitations on First Amendment speech rights

The triple threat that tends to undermine business owners when it comes to social media limitation policies has proven to be three surprising bedfellows: the National Labor Relations Act, the First Amendment, and the Right to Privacy. This triple axis of social media do’s and don’ts hit business owners from a variety of directions with conflicting information. Although certain social media rules seem obvious from a holistic perspective, they become very problematic and dangerous when it comes to the details. The challenges are not in terms of the big picture, but in regards to conflicting specifics.

Without question, modern attempts to keep employees from disclosing company secrets or being unfairly critical in social media forums range from difficult to downright dangerous. However, this is just the beginning because the challenges go both ways. In terms of hiring new employees and performing background checks, Google searches and Facebook investigations are not tools that employers should be using in-house. Even if information is revealed, it can prove to be prejudicial or inadmissible because of privacy rights and the loss of plausible deniability.

Ultimately, when it comes to instituting social media policies, Brian E. Koegle recommended that business owners should be specific and consistent. Moreover, this experienced attorney pointed out how a savings clause can be the saving grace of a social media policy. A savings clause says that if a single aspect of a social media policy is invalidated, the rest of the policy stays in place, maintaining the heart of what a business is trying to accomplish with such a policy.

Overall, an effective social media policy for both employers and employees is one of the great challenges of the 21st century. By having the support of a legal expert in terms of crafting such a policy to the specifics of both a particular business and an overall industry, the attendees of the Business Growth Workshop at the University Club learned a possible way to avoid the problems presented by tweets, texts and posts… oh my! Once again, the ongoing Business Growth Workshop series at the University Club has proven to be one of the preeminent resources for Pasadena employers in 2014.

About the Author

Growing up in New York City as a stutterer, John Lavitt embraced writing as a way to express himself when the words would not come. After graduating from Brown University, he lived on the Greek island of Patmos, studying with his mentor the late American poet Robert Lax. As a writer, John Lavitt’s published work includes several articles in Chicken Soup For The Soul volumes and poems in multiple poetry journals and compilations. Today, John Lavitt works at Open Interactive as the Director of Content Development. As a journalist, he is a Regular Contributor to The Fix where he writes investigative reports about the latest issues in the world of addiction and recovery.