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Can an Employee Steal Social Media Influence?

By Elise Bloom and John Barry
March 30, 2012

As employment disputes commonly involve communications between or among employees, management and customers, it should come as no surprise that social media's role in workplace disputes has drastically increased in the last year. Indeed, recent decisions from around the country have turned on the application of Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and blogging.

Cases have arisen in varied contexts, including post-employment obligations; ownership of handles, walls and contacts; assessments of “concerted activity” versus insubordinate behavior under the National Labor Relations Act; and privacy and discrimination/hostile work environments claims. This article discusses recent social media cases and makes recommendations for what employers can do to better protect confidential information and trade secrets.

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