Accessing An Employee's Social Media Account Without Bad Intent

http://ow.ly/88KXV

An article by Michael Schmidt posted on the Social Media Employment Law blog of Cozen O'Connor.

This article discusses the recent case of Maremont v. Susan Fredman Design Group, Ltd., in which an employer accessed an employees personal social media accounts, after the employee had been seriously injured in a car accident.

The article describes the court's holding, "...an employee is entitled to have a jury hear her claims that her employer unlawfully accessed and used her social media accounts. Even when there does not appear to have been any malevolent motivation on the company’s part."

The article further states, "What should you as an employer take away from this development?

Interestingly, the court did dismiss the employee’s claim for breach of her common law right to privacy, holding that Facebook and Twitter posts are generally not “private.” Nevertheless, this case offers a good reminder that all employers must be careful about accessing an employee’s social media accounts, even when you think that you are simply continuing the assigned job functions of an employee who is unable to fulfill them (temporarily or otherwise)."