Can a former employee blog about the wrongdoings of a former employer? The Federal Court Says YES! And EMPLOYEES CAN SUE UNDER FEDERAL LAW FOR ANY TYPE OF BACKLASH SUCH AS A FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT! ALL EMPLOYEES ARE PROTECTED BY THE FEDERAL WHISTLEBLOWER LAWS, Robert Paisola Reports
READ THIS CASE TO SEE HOW WE PROTECT OUR RIGHTS TO COMMUNICATE ON THE INTERNET: PULL THIS CASE UP ON PACER- YOU WILL SEE WE SPENT OVER ONE MILLION DOLLARS TO DEFEND THIS CASE. WE NEVER EVER LOOSE. THIS WAS A SETTLED CASE FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.
http://www.leagle.com/decision/20061133461FSupp2d672_11059/INTERNATIONAL%20PROFIT%20ASSOCIATES%20INC.%20v.%20PAISOLA
http://www.finnegan.com/publications/updatenewsletters/pubdetail.aspx?pub=12630
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/illinois/ilndce/1:2006cv06154/203560
http://www.ctemploymentlawblog.com/2008/07/articles/jury-awards-4m-to-employee-in-retaliation-case/
http://www.ctemploymentlawblog.com/2008/07/articles/jury-awards-4m-to-employee-in-retaliation-case/
http://www.lasvegasinjuryattorneyblog.com/2012/05/the-price-of-discrimination---.html
http://drinkwaterlaw.com/complicated-limits-will-employment/
http://www.suttonhague.com/
https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/settlements/state/nevada/
IF YOU ARE A VICTIM OF A COMPANY LIKE 411LOCALS.COM AND YOU CHOOSE TO MAKE THE WORLD AWARE OF WHAT YOU SEE< AND THEN YOU EVEN GET ONE LETTER FROM AN ATTORNEY TELLING YOU TO CEASE AND DESIST... OUR LEGAL TEAM WILL REPRESENT YOU AT NO CHARGE. EVEN IF THIS HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST, WE NEED TO KNOW. WE WILL REVIEW YOUR CASE AND IF APPLICABLE WE WILL FILE FOR DAMAGES IN US DISTRICT COURT.
Robert Paisola
Many employers have yet to recognize the potential harm to their companies that may result from employees who blog.
For example, in March, Cisco Systems, the computer giant, had to revise its policy on employee blogging. These changes followed the disclosure by a Cisco employee that he had authored an anonymous blog commenting on various policy and legal matters with which the company has been involved and on which he worked. In addition, Cisco employees who knew he was the author circulated links to the blog without revealing that a Cisco employee authored the blog.
With the expansion of the Internet, blogging has increased exponentially. Over 41 million blogs currently exist on the Internet and the "blogosphere" is doubling in size every 5 ½ months, meaning it is now over 60 times larger than it was just 3 years ago. On average, approximately 75 million blogs are created daily, about 1 new blog every second of every day, and there are about 1.2 million new blogs created each day, or about 50,000 per hour.
As blogging has grown in popularity, employer concern about blogging has grown, and some employees have already been fired for their blogs. Employees can disclose trade secrets, confidential financial information, or other internal documents; put the employer in an embarrassing light by abusing its trademarks, or projecting a negative or otherwise unprofessional attitude; disrupt the workplace with public comments about other employees; or offend the employer’s customers by making racist, sexist, or otherwise inappropriate remarks.
Despite these concerns, various laws limit an employer’s control over what employees write, especially outside of working hours. One such law is the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects certain activities by non-supervisory private sector employees.
Specifically, section 7 of the NLRA protects "the right . . . to form, join, or assist labor organizations . . . and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” Employers may not "interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of" their section 7 rights.
According to John Sarno, president of the Employers Association of New Jersey (EANJ), these provisions likely extend to employee blogs under certain circumstances, if the NLRA’s criteria are met.
According to Sarno, the multitude of posts and comments contained on blogs will present some analytical challenge. On nearly any blog where employees frankly discuss their jobs, some posts, examined individually, probably "disparage" the employer or its products without explicitly connecting the criticism to a labor dispute. Other gripes probably fall outside the scope of "mutual aid or protection" because they do not reveal the "specific objective" of changing a particular employment practice.
“In cases where legitimate collective rights are not being asserted, blog posts are not protected speech,” says Sarno. “I think the real threat comes from a disgruntled employee who seeks to harm the company’s reputation or from a conspiracy among many employees who want to defame the company,” he says.
The rapid rise in anonymous anti-employer Internet blogs has made it difficult for employers to protect themselves against defamation, disparagement in the business community and disclosure of confidential and proprietary information by employees. The first step in redressing the problems caused by anonymous bloggers is to identify who is responsible.
The most widely used mechanism for identifying a rogue blogger involves the filing of a "Doe" lawsuit, in which no named defendant is identified and then serving a subpoena on the Internet Service Provider ("ISP") hosting the blog - seeking documents designed to learn the blogger's identity. Once the blogger's identity is disclosed, the company will be able to pursue legal action.
However, Sarno notes, “a subpoena designed to unearth a blogger's identity can be challenged. The most common challenges to an ‘identity subpoena’ are based upon purported privacy and free speech rights.
An employee's blogging activity may also be protected under various whistleblower statutes. New Jersey has one of the strongest whistleblower protection laws in the country, Sarno says.
For example, in March, Cisco Systems, the computer giant, had to revise its policy on employee blogging. These changes followed the disclosure by a Cisco employee that he had authored an anonymous blog commenting on various policy and legal matters with which the company has been involved and on which he worked. In addition, Cisco employees who knew he was the author circulated links to the blog without revealing that a Cisco employee authored the blog.
With the expansion of the Internet, blogging has increased exponentially. Over 41 million blogs currently exist on the Internet and the "blogosphere" is doubling in size every 5 ½ months, meaning it is now over 60 times larger than it was just 3 years ago. On average, approximately 75 million blogs are created daily, about 1 new blog every second of every day, and there are about 1.2 million new blogs created each day, or about 50,000 per hour.
As blogging has grown in popularity, employer concern about blogging has grown, and some employees have already been fired for their blogs. Employees can disclose trade secrets, confidential financial information, or other internal documents; put the employer in an embarrassing light by abusing its trademarks, or projecting a negative or otherwise unprofessional attitude; disrupt the workplace with public comments about other employees; or offend the employer’s customers by making racist, sexist, or otherwise inappropriate remarks.
Despite these concerns, various laws limit an employer’s control over what employees write, especially outside of working hours. One such law is the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects certain activities by non-supervisory private sector employees.
Specifically, section 7 of the NLRA protects "the right . . . to form, join, or assist labor organizations . . . and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” Employers may not "interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of" their section 7 rights.
According to John Sarno, president of the Employers Association of New Jersey (EANJ), these provisions likely extend to employee blogs under certain circumstances, if the NLRA’s criteria are met.
According to Sarno, the multitude of posts and comments contained on blogs will present some analytical challenge. On nearly any blog where employees frankly discuss their jobs, some posts, examined individually, probably "disparage" the employer or its products without explicitly connecting the criticism to a labor dispute. Other gripes probably fall outside the scope of "mutual aid or protection" because they do not reveal the "specific objective" of changing a particular employment practice.
“In cases where legitimate collective rights are not being asserted, blog posts are not protected speech,” says Sarno. “I think the real threat comes from a disgruntled employee who seeks to harm the company’s reputation or from a conspiracy among many employees who want to defame the company,” he says.
The rapid rise in anonymous anti-employer Internet blogs has made it difficult for employers to protect themselves against defamation, disparagement in the business community and disclosure of confidential and proprietary information by employees. The first step in redressing the problems caused by anonymous bloggers is to identify who is responsible.
The most widely used mechanism for identifying a rogue blogger involves the filing of a "Doe" lawsuit, in which no named defendant is identified and then serving a subpoena on the Internet Service Provider ("ISP") hosting the blog - seeking documents designed to learn the blogger's identity. Once the blogger's identity is disclosed, the company will be able to pursue legal action.
However, Sarno notes, “a subpoena designed to unearth a blogger's identity can be challenged. The most common challenges to an ‘identity subpoena’ are based upon purported privacy and free speech rights.
An employee's blogging activity may also be protected under various whistleblower statutes. New Jersey has one of the strongest whistleblower protection laws in the country, Sarno says.
Sarno suggests employers should add a policy to their employee handbooks or manuals that prohibits personal employee blogging during working hours and that specifically addresses private blogs and chat rooms during off hours.
“The benefit of adopting policies addressing private blogs is that it puts employees on notice of the standards of conduct that apply to blog postings, “ Sarno says.
As such, the policies should be provided to employees at the time of hiring and intermittently re-transmitted throughout their employment. If employers learn that an employee has violated the policies, the violation can be dealt with through normal disciplinary procedures or termination.
LISTEN: WE HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT MANY OF THE 411 LOCALS EMPLOYEES HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THEY WILL BE FIRED IF THEY SPEAK WITH US... IF THIS IS TRUE.. YOU ARE IN THE MONEY!! THE FEDERAL COURTS HAVE RULED! IT'S UP TO YOU. WE HAVE SPOKEN TO 40 EMPLOYEES SO FAR! AND WE WILL NOT STOP!!
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