Clear, effective social media policies protect reputation and reduce risk

Generally speaking, you can prohibit your employees from engaging in certain activities (including social media use) during work hours or while using your equipment and/or communication systems—and discipline them for doing so.

From a practical standpoint, the best way to manage the risks associated with employee social media use is to develop a comprehensive policy that is distributed and signed by employees when they are first hired. The following guidelines can help you draft your social media policies, which should be applied and enforced in a fair and uniform way.

Conform policies to comply with law

In addition to prohibiting employees from using social media while at work, you may also control what they say on social media about your business while they aren’t at work. Be careful, however, not to infringe on their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA).

Specifically, the NLRA grants employees the right to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. The SCA generally prohibits intentional, unauthorized access to electronic information.