Can an Employee be Fired over a Social Media Posting?

The majority of cases of social media postings that get employees in trouble have to do with behavior or communications that display poor judgment. The definition of poor judgment can be spelled out as part of a job description with examples, with the caveat that the examples are not inclusive. Training in this area may be a more effective way to reduce incidents of social media postings that harm employees and the reputations of businesses.

• How to discipline an employee for what they say or do on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter?
• NLRB actions against employers who have terminated their employees for what they post on social media sites
• What potential problems you could face by the NLRB for firing an employee for a Facebook post?
• Recent case law and mistakes to avoid when terminating an employee for comments on Facebook and Twitter
• How to protect your organization from these legal pitfalls?
• Analysis of state laws that prohibit terminations for lawful off-duty conduct

• State laws that may pose problems for you if you terminate an employee for a social media post, they made while off-duty
• Actions you can take to discipline an employee for their posts on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter
• What legal issues the NLRB could allege based on your social media policy?
• How to create a legally compliant social media policy?
• Best practices to protect your organization from these legal pitfalls

Despite the business pluses of these sites and tools, they also create issues of security and legal liability for employers, and still, relatively little case law exists for organizations to turn to when weighing the risks. This webinar will help employers better understand the numerous laws that employers need to be concerned about when terminating employees for what they say or do on social media. And what you need to know before you terminate employees for comments they post on social media sites.

• HR professionals
• In-House Counsel
• Managers
• Business owners
• CEOs
• General counsel

Stuart Silverman has been practicing law for almost 30 years and is the principal of the Law Offices of Stuart M. Silverman, P.A., located in Boca Raton, Florida. The emphasis of his practice is in the area of labor and employment law, and business and commercial litigation. Mr. Silverman has represented both private and public employers, as well as individual employees in a whole host of complex business disputes and employment settings at administrative levels, and state and federal trial and appellate courts. His extensive employment litigation experience includes claims under age, race, sex discrimination, wage and hour claims, whistleblower and retaliation claims, ADA and FMLA claims, public employee's claims, as well as disputes under employment contracts, non-compete agreements, trade secrets disputes, and partnership breakups. Mr. Silverman is a frequent speaker on his areas of practice.

Mr. Silverman is also a member of The Workplace Violence Prevention Institute (WPVI), a group formed to investigate solutions and strategies from a proactive and systemic perspective to minimize the risk of workplace violence, specifically violence caused by employees or former employees. He earned his B.A. degree, with high honors, and his J.D. degree from Rutgers University. Mr. Silverman is admitted to The Florida Bar and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.