May 14, 2010

How To Keep Former Employees Quiet

"Rant sites" are one of the darker aspects of social media—they're where people go to air their grievances in a public online forum. And if someone has just left your company under less-than-optimal circumstances, the focus of their rantings could well be you.

What's the best way to keep former employees quiet? Allison Davis, CEO of Davis & Company, recommends tying agreements about future behavior, non-disclosure, and so forth to a severance agreement. Keep the payoff for a date in the future, and make it clear that if the employee violates this agreement, he or she won't get the money.

What about Employees with No Severance Package?

"If you don't offer severance, you don't have as many rights for controlling ex-employees. You can try to sue for slander or libel," Davis says, "but that's a difficult case to make because you have to prove damages to the company."

Learn how to protect yourself from disgruntled employees (and former employees) by joining us for a can't-miss webinar on June 2.

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If an ex-employee who has no severance were to blog "I was fired, and here are the facts," you've got no basis for legal action, Davis says. If the person blogs, "I hated my boss," you've got no basis for action. If the person discloses "Here are my company's confidential plans and financial data," now that could be the basis for legal action, Davis says.

Proactive Steps You Can Take

How should you go about setting boundaries and guidelines for your employees and ex-employees? Start with your current employees, says Davis.

"There is no right or wrong answer about how to approach it; you have to decide as a company where you fall," Davis says. She thinks of it as color-coded:

Green—You encourage employees to contribute to social media sites. In other words, you decide that use of social media has equal or more benefit than risk.

Yellow—You acknowledge that employees participate and outline expectations—you may do this but not that, what you do at home is your own business except for this and that. In other words, you don't intend to prohibit use, but there are rules.

Red—No, you're not letting anyone engage in this activity. In other words, you are going to restrict employees to using company electronic resources only for business-related matters. This approach is necessary for certain industries—defense contractors, for example, Davis notes.

For many employers, the first level of interest is to ensure that the personal use of social networking websites or systems does not interfere with working time. In any event, when employees are involved with these sites, it must be clear that they are not acting as a spokesperson for the company, Davis says.

Finally, Davis says, "don't forget logos. That's a big one for many companies. You really don't want people splashing your logo all over their Web pages."

Social Media: Protect Yourself From Employees (and Former Employees) with a Laptop and a Grudge

Technology is changing the face of the American workplace in a variety of ways. Many of those changes are spurred by the challenges and opportunities presented by the Internet.

The Internet can be a great resource for employees and employers alike, but it can also lead to a whole new world of negative exposure and risk. This is never truer than when you have an employee (or former employee) who has a grudge along with a platform—like a blog or a Facebook page—that allows it to be broadcast to the world.

Join us on June 2 for a timely webinar specifically for California employers. Our expert—an experienced employment law attorney—will explain how to protect yourself from this type of unwanted exposure.

You'll learn:

• Strategies for monitoring your employees' online activity—where does business necessity cross over into invasion of privacy?
• What to do if an employee is using company equipment to post defamatory or illegal information on a personal blog or social networking page
• How far your reach extends over former employees who say negative things about your company online
• Steps to secure your proprietary information and protect your valuable corporate image
• What new FTC regulations say about the inclusion of endorsements and testimonials in blogs, and what they mean for you as an employer
• How to create effective policies for a range of technology-use issues

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