Orange County Computer Lawyer Blog

Facebook and Twitter Could Ruin Your California Employee Discrimination Claim

More and more employees are finding out that pouring their heart out on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or any other social networking medium, could prove very costly when they file sexual harassment, gender discrimination or any other employment-related lawsuits.

Corporate employment and labor lawyers are getting extremely Net savvy.  They know there is a wealth of information to be found on Facebook and Twitter, and to some extent, MySpace.  When these lawyers receive an employee complaint about sexual harassment, wrongful termination, gender discrimination or any other employment complaint, one of the first things that these lawyers will do is look up the employee’s Facebook page.  Not every post on your Facebook wall will provide a juicy nugget that the company’s attorney can then use against you.  However, the chances are high that if you’ve been facing a tough time at work, you are likely to vent online on Facebook or tweet a caustic message about your employer to all your followers.

California employment lawyers would warn employees who are preparing to file a claim against their employer, to tread cautiously.   Corporate and labor lawyers have very successfully used Facebook wall posts and Twitter status updates against employees.  Any posts that you make against your employer, talking of revenge of retaliation, or any other outpourings of an emotional mind, will be lapped up by the company’s attorneys.  These messages will be printed and presented when it’s time to hear your claim.  You can expect your employer’s attorneys to try to make friends with your friends, in order to gain access to any messages or posts by you.

Just about anything you post online, including Facebook wall posts, Twitter status updates, messages, forum posts, replies, retweets of Twitter tweets, and images that you post could turn up in an employment lawsuit.  It’s not just your presence on social networking sites that will come under the microscope.  If you blog, or have ever commented on someone else’s blog, you can expect these to also show on the opposing attorney’s computer screen.  Expect any tidbits of information, including any groups and forums that you have joined, videos that you upload, and even supposedly private direct messages that you’ve shared with other Facebook users, to become fair game in a lawsuit.  The other attorneys, with some effort, can gain access to all of these, spelling possible trouble for your claim.