Should employees send and receive personal emails on their employer-owned computers? Should an employer Google a prospective job applicant to learn about his or her background?
And what if an employee "bad mouths" an employer on the Internet - even if it's after hours, or on a private site?
Those were some of the questions lawyer Layla G. Taylor fielded at a recent "Buzz on Business" conversation hosted by the Franklin County Community Development Corp.
Taylor, who is with Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn LLC of Springfield, says the rules for the use of email, Internet, smartphones and social media on computers are evolving, but she advised small business representatives not to ignore the role that social and Internet media can play - or does already - in shaping their business' image.
On one hand, social networking on Twitter or Facebook can provide small businesses with a way to reach their customers quickly and to help maintain a relationship with customers they already have. It's also a way to find out what customers are saying about their products or services - the good and the bad.
And since competitors may have a strong presence on the Web, all must be there. "If you don't, the world - your potential customers - (won't) see you as significant," Taylor told the group.
But what employees say about their employers online could hurt business, says Taylor. "Your employees' online conduct can impact your business," she said. She said there have been incidents in which confidential information "that should have never been leaked out" has been posted on Facebook by an employee.
"Most employers are going to say if you're an employee who is disparaging my business, I can (fire) you," she said. But if union employees are having what is a legally "protected conversation" under the National Labor Relations Act - for instance, about work conditions, that conversation is protected.
Another question was about who owns information put up on the Internet. Taylor said blogs can be private, with a limited access; but if they're open to anybody to see, "it's public."
"With Facebook, everything you post there, they own," she said. "As business owners, you need to think about what content you don't want to give them." She said the same is true with sites like LinkedIn and Twitter.
"Your own blog is social media that you control. And you can set up 'alerts' to find out what people are saying about you."
If a business wants to post a newspaper article, a review, cartoon or other material from another website, it's best to get permission and post a link to the original source's website, instead of cutting and pasting it into your own site, said Taylor. She said linking it to the original website means the originator still controls use of the item and that approach prevents confusion over who wrote or created it.
Taylor pointed out ways in which information put out over the Internet can harm a business. For instance, "electronic discovery" is the use of content from emails, blogs, word documents, even data-bank storage services such as the Internet-based cloud. "Networking sites have potentially discoverable information," she said.
Examples of employee misuse of these Internet-based media include using it for harassment or discrimination; defamation; improper disclosure of confidential information; violating copyright and intellectual property, and harm to an employer's reputation.
Taylor advised business owners to take preventative action by creating a social media policy for their workplace, training employees on these policies and enforcing the policies consistently.
Examples of employer-misuse of the Internet include letting personal information from social network sites affect hiring decisions (for instance ruling out someone based on age, religion, or race, as found on social networks; using such Internet-based information to discipline a whistleblower or workers engaged in National Labor Relations Rights, off-duty, legal activities.
Taylor said social network sites often give details of a candidate's life that employers aren't even allowed to ask during job interviews. If possible, she recommended having a independent company do criminal background checks for jobs that require more sensitive responsibilities. But companies providing reports to employers - and employers using reports - must comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
If a prospective employer is going to look at an applicant's Internet footprint, the applicant should be told so, when they first apply. "If they're going to do their own check, they should have a disclaimer," she said. "Let people know up front they will be subject to a check."
"Nothing is secret anymore."
Email groundrules
In using social networks to advertise products and services, Layla G. Taylor recommends businesses check their marketing materials for "CANSPAM" compliance. The CAN-SPAM Act sets rules for commercial email and gives recipients the right to stop emailing those emails.
Key points are:
# The email address you send email from and that people reply to must be your own.
# The subject line must truly reflect the email's contents.
# You must tell recipient this email is an advertisement.
# You must include a physical address.
# You must give recipients a way to opt out.