<p>Technology has forever changed the way we communicate, and a recent ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit serves notice to businesses of all sizes that their policy and procedure manuals must keep up with the times.</p><p>The court recently held that a sheriff's department employee fired by the sheriff for "liking" the campaign Facebook page of the sheriff's political adversary engaged in speech protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Although the case, Bland v. Roberts, was decided based on constitutional principles applicable only to public sector employees, the decision may have important implications for private employers, as well.</p><p>First, Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act protects the rights of employees to discuss wages, hours and working conditions in a concerted or collective manner. The National Labor Relations Board has issued rulings recently that address protection for social media activity and may conclude that if an employee posts on Facebook about wages, hours or working conditions and another employee "likes" it, or posts a link to or "like" of the site of a union or another organization that promotes or supports employee rights, it could be held to be concerted protected activity.</p><p>Second, an employer that seeks out social media activity by or about applicants and employees may be exposed to information that, if known, could raise issues in the event employment action is taken against the individual and litigation ensues. For example, the employer could learn information about an employee's sexual orientation, illness, age, disability, concerns about the employer practices, and the like, which could be problematic. Even if the information had nothing to do with the employer's employment decision, it places the employer into the position of having to explain how and why it gathered the information and to prove that the information had no bearing on the employment decision.</p><p><a href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/business-viewpoint-employers-need-to-set-social-media-policies/article_e598c802-12ec-5751-845d-483ab6de377b.html">Keep reading...</a></p>