In-house attorneys had a lot to think about in 2013, from the legal pitfalls of cloud computing and the growing popularity of outsourcing legal processes to the difficulties faced by law firm partners. On the labor and employment front, there’s been plenty going on as well.
Several attorneys specializing in labor and employment issues told CorpCounsel.com what they think has been important in 2013 and what they anticipate coming down the pike in the next 12 months:
Working Social
Elise Scheck Bonwitt of Higer Lichter & Givner points to social media as a major issue to watch in 2014. It’s “evolving all the time,” she noted, as legal frameworks grow up around still relatively new networking tools like Facebook or Twitter, and many cases involving social media are pending in the courts.
According to Bonwitt, employers should remember that unless they are the ones providing the social network being used or they get consent of an employee, they can’t monitor the behavior of the employee on social media. There’s more than one form of consent though, and “friending” an employee on Facebook could count.
“If you’re Facebooking me and then I’m talking about my day at work, have I consented to you? That’s an issue,” Bonwitt said.
