Yesterday’s Advisor featured attorney Joseph Beachboard’s take on several key HR policies. Today, his recommended model computer usage policy, plus an introduction to the indispensable “50×50” (Fifty Laws in Fifty States).
Beachboard, who is a shareholder in the Los Angeles and Torrence, California offices of national employment law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., shared his model computer usage policy at the SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition held recently in Atlanta, Georgia.
Model Computer Usage Policy
This policy applies to all Company employees, contractors, vendors and agents with Company owned or personally-owned computers or workstations used to connect to the Company network.
Personal use is permitted provided:
- It does not interfere with the performance of the employee’s job duties and obligations; and
- It does not violate this policy or any other Company policy; and
- It does not interfere with the Company’s operation of its Information Technologies.
All Information Technologies, including the email system, are the property of the Company.
The Company (or its designated representatives) maintains the right and ability, with or without notice to the employee, to access and review any information contained on its Information Technologies, even if protected by private password.
Those individuals using Company’s Information Technologies have no expectation of privacy in connection with the use of such Information Technologies or transmission, receipt, or storage of information through the use of such Information Technologies.
It is possible that personal email sent from the Company’s system can be intercepted on the local system and on the Internet; therefore the user should not expect any degree of privacy regarding email messages of any type, including email messages sent or received through the Company’s email account or through a private web-based email account accessed using the Company’s Information Technologies.
Prohibited Uses:
- Excessive personal use of the Company’s Information Technologies.
- Using Information Technologies in a manner that violates the Company’s Confidentiality Policy.
- Revealing your account password to others or allowing use of your account by others.
- Sending or forwarding messages or materials containing abusive, profane or offensive language; ethnic or racial slurs; or any other message, remarks or materials that can be construed to be harassment or disparagement of others based on their sex, race, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, or religious or political beliefs.
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Blogging Prohibitions:
- Disclosing the Company’s confidential or trade secret information on a blog, or making any statements that violate the Company’s Conflict of Interest Policy.
- Drafting, creating or accessing any blog on the Company’s Information Technology system at any time.
- Representing that you are speaking or acting on behalf of the Company, or that you are representing or presenting the Company’s view unless specifically authorized by the Company.
- Using a blog to harass, defame, embarrass or attack any Company employee, contractor, customer or vendor.
Social Media and Professional Networking:
Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn encourage professional growth and relationship building. Be sure to make it clear to your “audience” that the views you express are yours alone and that they do not necessarily reflect the views of the Company. In addition, avoid disclosing any information that is confidential or proprietary to the Company or to any third party that has disclosed information to the Company.
Any employee who uses the Company’s Information Technologies in an inappropriate manner will be subject to discipline, up to and including discharge.
When setting up your policy, remember that state laws may come into play, especially in the areas of privacy and off-duty conduct. Where are you going to go to find out about all your state law obligations? It’s not easy to track the ins and outs of different laws in 50 different states—and that’s where the 50×50 comes in.
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Imagine the time and frustration you’ll save with this authoritative, instant-information reference. In just seconds, you’ll zero in on the precise information you need whenever you must:
- Create a new policy
- Verify the compliance of an existing policy
- Expand your operations
- Audit your procedures
- Support recommendations to senior management
- Advise colleagues at field offices, branches, and stores
- Stay comfortably up-to-date with increasingly complicated state employment laws
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Family and medical leave |
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In terms of the social media policy, you should probably define “confidential” and include examples of prohibited disclosures. The NLRB has long held that the term “confidential information,” if not narrowed in scope to exclude Section 7 activity, would reasonably be interpreted to include information concerning terms and conditions of employment and therefore violate the NLRA.