So you just got comfortable with your blog, LinkedIn, and Twitter. What about location based social media? Part game and part micro blog, these websites allow you to check in throughout your day with your location and related comments while earning various online honors and prizes. Thus far, it seems that the two market leaders are Foursquare and Gowalla and they are fighting for market dominance. According to FastCompany.com:
The companies both launched eight months earlier at the South by South West interactive festival. Their products pioneered the then-uncharted territory of location-based social networking. On Foursquare, a user “checks in” to locations (as pinpointed via satellite) to invite along friends, leaves tips glued to GPS coordinates (like ordering advice at restaurants), and competes for digital rewards in the form of badges, or titles like “mayor” (for the user who checks in the most at a venue). Similarly, Gowalla asks users to check in places in order to collect digital goodies, akin to virtual geocaching.
In addition to Foursquare and Gowalla, there are many other location based social media sites. If your employees are not already using one, they soon will be.
What are the legal implications of these sites? Initially, critics pointed out the fairly obvious fact that telling people where you are throughout the day also lets them know where you are not, e.g. your house. This lead to the satiric site pleaserobme.com, which purports to demonstrate the danger of location revealing social media sites.
Of course, there are also employment law implications. If you tell the world where you are (e.g. a sports bar) and what you are doing (e.g. drinking beer and watching NCAA basketball), it also reveals where you are not (e.g. your office) and what you are not doing (e.g. working). Speaking as a management side attorney, that is information I can make use of in litigation.
This kind of evidence could also play a significant role in wage and hour litigation, where plaintiffs often claim to have worked impossibly long hours. It is difficult to prove a negative, e.g. that the plaintiff was not working 12 hour days, but a separate record created via a social media site could help. Conversely, posts by employees stuck at work late in the evening may have negative implications depending on the circumstances. Frankly, I could spend the whole day thinking of scenarios in which location based social media plays a role in employment litigation. For example:
- Former employee with a non-compete creates a record of visiting certain customers or spending a significant amount of time in certain territories;
- Plaintiff claims emotional distress and diminished enjoyment of life but social media tells another story;
- Hiring manager tracks applicant’s locations on social media and inadvertently becomes aware of the neighborhood where applicant lives, creating potential claims of discrimination;
- Employee on FMLA leave makes a record of activities that undercut need for leave.
The bottom line is that location based social media is a) another indication of the need for employers to adopt effective social media policies; and b) a potentially rich source of evidence in employment litigation.
Let me know what you think – mchumley@kmklaw.com or Tweet me at MarkJChumley on Twitter.
- Partner
Mark Chumley has experience representing clients in all aspects of labor and employment law. He has handled numerous cases before state and federal courts and state and federal civil rights agencies, including claims involving ...
Topics/Tags
Select- Labor & Employment Law
- Employment Law
- NLRB
- Coronavirus
- Employment Litigation
- Labor Law
- National Labor Relations Board
- Workplace Violence
- Department of Labor
- Arbitration
- Discrimination
- Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation
- Religion Discrimination
- IRS
- Disability Discrimination
- Litigation
- Employer Policies
- Race Discrimination
- Americans with Disabilities Act
- Social Media
- OSHA
- Retirement
- Sexual Orientation Discrimination
- Accommodation
- National Labor Relations Act
- ERISA
- Employer Handbook
- Wage & Hour
- Reasonable Accommodation
- EEOC
- ACA
- Affordable Car Act
- ADAAA
- Title VII
- NLRA
- Unions
- Employer Rules
- Sexual Harassment
- Federal Arbitration Act
- Technology
- Privacy
- 401(k)
- Transgender Issues
- FMLA
- Workplace Accommodations
- Disability
- Employment Settlement Agreements
- Sixth Circuit
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Fair Labor Standards Act
- Paycheck Protection Program
- Securities Law
- Preventive Care Benefits
- Health Savings Account
- SECURE Act
- Gender Identity Discrimination
- Posting Requirements
- US Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration
- Class Action Litigation
- Benefits
- Disability Law
- E-Discovery
- Evidence
- Family and Medical Leave Act
- Environmental Law
- Overtime Pay
- Privacy Laws
- Representative Election Regulations
- Department of Justice
- Healthcare Reform
- Older Workers' Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA)
- Telecommuting
- Affirmative Action
- Electronically Stored Information
- Equal Opportunity Clause
- Compensable Time
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration
- Pregnancy Discrimination
- Security Screening
- Supreme Court
- E-Discovery Case Law
- Electronic Data Discovery
- ESI
- Unemployment Insurance Integrity Act
- American Medical Association
- Attendance Policy
- Return to Work
- Seniority Rights
- Classification
- Confidentiality
- Disability Leave
- Equal Pay
- Fair Minimum Wage
- Federal Minimum Wage
- Genetic Information Discrimination
- Media Policy
- Misclassification
- National Origin Discrimination
- Retaliation
- Social Media Content
- State Minimum Wage
- Wage Increase
- Employment Incentives
- HIRE Act
- Social Security Tax
- Taxation
- Antitrust
Recent Posts
- New NLRB General Counsel Guidance Threatens Ability to Enforce Non-Compete Agreements
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: Exploding 5 Employment Law Myths
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: The Economics of Employment Law
- NLRB Issues Guidance on the Recent Mclauren Macomb Decision
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: Thoughts On Workplace Violence
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: Pay Transparency Laws and Remote Workers
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: Labor & Employment Law Update Week of 3/6/23
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: E.W.A. - Straight Outta Payroll
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: Labor & Employment Law Update Week of 1/23/23
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: The Obligatory New Year's Episode