Privacy & Social Media

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By Esther Slater McDonald, Paul Yovanic Jr. and Thomas E. Ahlering

Seyfarth Synopsis: In light of the uncertainties surrounding lawsuits alleging violations of the Illinois Information Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA), the Northern District of California has taken a firm position on a plaintiff’s Article III standing. U.S. District Judge James Donato delivered opinions in In re Facebook Biometric Info. …
Continue Reading California Federal District Court Does Not ‘like’ Facebook’s Standing Argument in Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act Case

By: Elizabeth McKee, Gabriel Mozes and Jason E. Burritt

Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Department of State has recently issued a new supplemental questionnaire that will enable officers at U.S. Consulates and Embassies to carry out enhanced and burdensome screenings of certain applicants for nonimmigrant and immigrant visas to the U.S.

As part of the Trump Administration’s extreme vetting…
Continue Reading One Minute Memo: Extreme Vetting Measures To Include Questionnaires Asking for Detailed Travel History and Social Media Information

By Hillary J. Massey

iStock_000048141232_LargeEmployees’ social media activities often play a key role in workplace investigations.

For example, an employee may complain that a coworker sent a harassing Facebook message or posted something offensive on Twitter regarding race, religion, or disability. Employers handling investigations into such conduct should be aware that state laws may restrict employers’ requests for information about…
Continue Reading Questions Remain About Social Media Privacy Rights During Workplace Investigations

By Dawn Solowey and Ariel Cudkowicz

On June 1, 2015, in a 8-1 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the religious-discrimination case of EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc. We blogged about that opinion on the day of the decision.

But many employers are wondering: now what? Read on for some practical,…
Continue Reading You Can’t Stick Your Head in the Sand: Dos and Don’ts for Religious Accommodation in Hiring After EEOC v. Abercrombie

By Adam Vergne and Chuck Walters

Following a national trend, Montana and Virginia have become the nineteenth and twentieth states to enact laws restricting employer access to the social media accounts of applicants and employees.[1]

Virginia’s law, which takes effect on July 1, 2015, prohibits requesting (or requiring) the disclosure of usernames and/or passwords to an individual’s social media…
Continue Reading Don’t Tweet On Me!

By Johanna T. Wise and Andrew J. Masak

Every day new stories about the uses (and misuses) of drones surface in the media.

They have been used to: photograph the 2015 Winter X Games, assist in firefighting operations, monitor agricultural drought, monitor pipelines in remote areas of the world, and take pictures for realtors.  One drone even famously crashed on…
Continue Reading Send in the Drones: Transforming the Workplace through the Use of Drone Surveillance

By: Erin Dougherty Foley

On Monday, Apple unveiled its new MacBook (which is as pretty as it is light and nimble), number of new health related apps called “ResearchKit” (that claim to be able to help diagnose and monitor the progress of diseases like diabetes and Parkinson’s) and the much anticipated Apple Watch.  The watch appears to work like an…
Continue Reading Apple Watch – Everything Old Is New Again

By: Jonathan L. Brophy

Employers know that the National Labor Relations Board may scrutinize their policies to determine if they violate the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) – and specifically, Section 7’s protections for “concerted activity.”

When searching for clear guidance on what standards to follow, employers soon find that the NLRB’s most recent fact sheet only addressed cases…
Continue Reading #Trending Now — NLRB and Social Media Policy Guidance

By: Carlos Lopez

Companies cannot have every employee with a Twitter account spreading (mis)information about their business, products or services to hundreds or thousands of followers, but the National Labor Relations Board is sending mixed signals about what, if anything, employers can do about it.

Good News: While the Board has been a relentless foe of almost all social media…
Continue Reading The Opinions Expressed In This Post Are My Own And Not Necessarily Those Of My Employer: Disclaimers And The NLRB’s Continuing (And Confusing) Assault On Employer Social Media Policies

We are pleased to provide you with our Social Media Privacy Legislation Desktop Reference.

There is no denying that social media is an ever-present issue in the workplace and in our personal lives. Since April 2012, a growing number of states have passed some form of social media privacy legislation. Nearly all other state legislatures, as well as Congress, considered,…
Continue Reading Seyfarth Shaw’s Social Media Privacy Legislation Desktop Reference