The explosion in popularity of social media has, in my opinion, been a blessing and a curse for businesses. On the one hand, social media helps businesses market products and services, and reach-out to current and potential customers, with relative ease and little cost.
On the other hand, social media provides employees and customers with a platform to complain, air dirty laundry to the world, and otherwise draw negative attention to the business. A medical center in Cincinnati recently experienced the curse of social media.
A patient at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center has sued the Medical Center alleging that one or more hospital employees posted on Facebook a screenshot of her medical records, including her name and diagnosis, syphilis. The ex-boyfriend is alleged to have put the Medical Center employees up to the task. The termination, however, was an after-the-fact response — after damage had already been done.
Is there anything the Medical Center could have done to prevent the situation in the first place? There are things that all employers can do in an effort to decrease the risk of liability stemming from employee use or misuse of social media:.
If you have not revised your employee handbook for several years, you may not have a social media policy. Review your handbook today. There are things that all employers can do in an effort to decrease the risk of liability stemming from employee use or misuse of social media: Develop a social media policy that is easily understood and that puts employees on notice of prohibited use. Use specific examples in the policy so there is no misunderstanding about what is, and is not, permitted.
