A hair salon’s motion for entry of a preliminary injunction against a stylist was denied even though she had signed non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements with the salon, and immediately after leaving her prior employment she was employed by a nearby competitor, a fact noted on her Facebook page. Invidia LLC v Difonzo, Case No. MICV20123798H (Middlesex [Mass.] County
Continue Reading Massachusetts Court Rules That Facebook Posting of New Job Does Not Violate Non-Competition Covenant
What Employers Need to Know About California’s New Social Media Law
By Robert Milligan, Jessica Mendelson, and Joshua Salinas
On September 27, 2012, California Governor Jerry Brown signed two bills, AB 1844 and SB 1349, into law, making California the third state in the country – Maryland and Illinois are the others – to regulate employers’ ability to demand access to employees’ or prospective hires’ personal social media accounts. Appropriately enough,
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Proposed Social Media Legislation On California Governor’s Desk
By Jessica Mendelson and Grace Chuchla
On September 12, 2012, California Assembly Bill 1844 was enrolled and presented to Governor Brown. This bill is the counterpart to the Social Media Privacy Act (SB 1349), which was approved by the California State Senate in August 2012. AB 1844 is the work of Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose), and seeks to prohibit
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Facebook Fans For Piggy Paint Not A Business Expectancy, Michigan Federal Court Dismisses Tortious Interference Claims for Facebook Page Takedown
On August 9, 2012, a district court for the Western District of Michigan dismissed counterclaims of tortious interference with a business expectancy and conversion brought after the removal of a company’s Facebook page and the alleged loss of its more than 19,000 “fans.” (Lown Companies LLC v. Piggy Paint LLC, No. 11-cv–911 (W.D. Mich., Aug. 9, 2012)) .
Continue Reading Facebook Fans For Piggy Paint Not A Business Expectancy, Michigan Federal Court Dismisses Tortious Interference Claims for Facebook Page Takedown
Illinois Becomes Second State In Nation To Bar Employers From Obtaining Access To Employee Social Networking Pages
On August 1, 2012, Illinois became the second state in the nation to adopt a law prohibiting employers from seeking employee or prospective employee passwords to access their non-public portions of their social networking sites.
The Illinois’ law, an amendment to the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act that will become effective January 1, 2013, makes
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Hey Lumbergh, You Don’t Own My Facebook Account: Maryland Passes Legislation To Protect Employee’s Social Media Accounts
Recently the legality of requiring prospective hires to hand over social networking usernames and passwords received national attention when New York Sen. Charles Schumer and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether the practice violates federal laws. Although federal legislation has yet to be passed, state legislatures have begun to address the issue.
Access To Social Media Accounts In The Hiring Process And Employer Ownership Of Trade Secrets Or Confidential Information Contained In Social Media Accounts: Legislation On Horizon?
On Monday March 26, 2012, Senators Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) and Chuck Schumer (New York), called for federal agencies to determine whether requiring prospective hires to hand over social networking usernames and passwords violates federal law. Blumenthal and Schumer called on the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) to investigate whether such practices violate federal anti-discrimination laws and the United
California Federal Court Grants Summary Judgment For Facebook On Its CAN-SPAM Act, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, And Penal Code Section 502 Claims Against Social Media Aggregator
By Robert Milligan and Jeffrey Oh
For the past three years, social media platform Facebook has pursued legal action against social media aggregator Power Ventures (“Power”) over what it has viewed as a blatant violation of state and federal law. Filed by Facebook in December 2008, the suit alleges violations by Power of the CAN-SPAM Act in addition to the
Continue Reading California Federal Court Grants Summary Judgment For Facebook On Its CAN-SPAM Act, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, And Penal Code Section 502 Claims Against Social Media Aggregator
Protecting Trade Secrets and Confidential Information In The Social Media Generation
By Robert Milligan and Jeffrey Oh
Over the past decade, no avenue has had a bigger impact on society and the ways in which people interact than social media. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, which traffic in information shared on its servers, encourage users to publish every detail of their lives. For employers, the reality of social media’s pervasiveness (and benefits) presents