Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-2-2010
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10672-010-9149-8
Abstract
Corporate social networking sites provide employees and employers with considerable opportunity to share information and become friends. Unfortunately, American laws do not directly address social networking site usage. The National Labor Relations Act, civil rights laws, and various common law doctrines such as employment at-will and defamation provide the pattern for future social networking laws. Ethical considerations such as productivity, security, goodwill, privacy, accuracy, and discipline fairness also affect future laws. Corporate policies on corporate social networking should balance the employer‘s and employee‘s interests. Existing laws and ethical issues associated with social networking should impact social networking policies related to configuration, communication, discipline, and evaluation of policies. Corporate social networking policies should be business-related, ensure user notification of monitoring, maintain adequate records, and provide for reliable, consistent, and impersonal evaluation of monitoring effectiveness.
Copyright Statement
This is an author-produced, peer-reviewed version of this article. The final publication is available at www.springerlink.com. Copyright restrictions may apply. doi: 10.1007/s10672-010-9149-8
Publication Information
Kaupins, Gundars and Park, Susan. (2010). "Legal and Ethical Implications of Corporate Social Networks". Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 23(2), 83-99.
Included in
Business and Corporate Communications Commons, Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Internet Law Commons, Labor and Employment Law Commons, Privacy Law Commons, Social Media Commons