You’ve read the privacy notices. You’ve limited access so that only your friends can see your Facebook posts. Can you finally post without thinking about what your boss would think?
Maybe. But maybe not.
In Ehling v. Monmouth-Ocean Hospital Service Corp. a registered nurse/paramedic posted a Facebook status that got her fired. While it wasn’t specifically related to her own employment, it called out paramedics in the news for saving the life of an accused criminal.
The question in this case wasn’t about the controversial statement, but how the employer got it. The employee had limited her access so that only Facebook friends could see her posts and did not add managers as friends.
She did, however, add co-workers. One of whom took a screenshot of her Facebook wall and emailed it to her managers.
The employee argued that her posts should be protected by the Stored Communications Act (SCA), which creates a privacy protection for digital communications stored online.
The court agreed, holding that non-public Facebook posts are covered by the SCA, because they are:
- Electronic communications
- Transmitted via an electronic communication service
- Stored electronically
- Not accessible to the general public
But her comment still wasn’t protected.
The Authorized User Exception (A.K.A. The Frenemy Exception)
While you CAN protect your Facebook posts from managers or bosses who seek them out illegally in violation of the SCA, you CANNOT protect them from frenemies (a.k.a. people you authorized to see your posts, who pass your information along without prompting).
If you have questions about how social media posts can affect your employment, contact a Minneapolis employment law attorney with LeBlanc Law & Mediation at 612-819-9652.
