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When Worlds Collide: An Arbitrator's Guide to Social Networking Issues in Labor and Employment Cases - Chapter 28 - AAA Handbook on Employment Arbitration and ADR - Third Edition

Author(s): 
Robert L. Arrington
Aaron Duffy
Elizabeth Rita
Page Count: 
20 pages
Media Description: 
1 PDF Download
Published: 
December, 2015
Author Detail: 

Robert L. Arrington is Chairman of Wilson Worley Moore Gamble & Stout PC in Kingsport, Tenn., where he has practiced law for 40 years. His law practice includes labor and employment law and business litigation. He serves on the American Arbitration Association’s roster of neutrals for commercial and employment cases.

Aaron Duffy is the Vice President of Legal Affairs at Appalachian Community Federal Credit Union. Among other duties, Aaron leads Human Resources, oversees all dispute resolutions, and drafts policies for the credit union.

Elizabeth Rita is a Partner in the boutique employment law practice, Kelly Stacy & Rita, LLC in Denver, Colo. She is also owns In-House Investigations, LLC, and in that capacity has provided neutral third-party investigations of workplace complaints, EEOC charges and related issues. Elizabeth has spoken and written on social networking for the American Arbitration Association, the Colorado Bar Association, and NAFSA, an association of international educators.

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Originally from:

AAA Handbook on Employment Arbitration and ADR - Third Edition

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I. Introduction

In the age of social media, users have more options to connect with like-minded people and express their opinions, while companies have more channels to promote and sell products and services. What does this mean to the arbitrator? It could mean a new source of evidence, particularly in labor and employment disputes. This article explores the issues involved in cases that pertain to social networking activities and information derived from social media. The authors’ advice to arbitrators: It is inevitable that social networking issues will figure more prominently in arbitrations, so they should prepare themselves now by understanding social networking and how it relates to various laws.

 

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn have exploded in popularity in the last few years. Facebook alone has more than 1 billion active users, meaning that if Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world, behind only China and India. As social networking grows, the worlds of social networking and arbitration inevitably will collide with ever increasing frequency.

 

Since social networking is ubiquitous, evidence from social media will undoubtedly find its way into labor and employment cases, but it could be involved in almost any kind of case. For this reason, arbitrators need to become familiar with all kinds of social networking platforms, learn how to deal with this kind of evidence, and understand the applicable statutory and case law. This article presents an overview of social networking, the evidentiary issues they raise, and a short primer on the law that could apply to social networking activity. This discussion is intended to provide some guidance for employers that wish to regulate social networking by employees, as well as introduce arbitrators to the social networking phenomenon, so that they are not “flummoxed” by it, even if, by being so, they may consider themselves in good company.