Do Employer's Need A Blogging Policy??

I usually do not post law firm newsletter or client information reports because most of the time I find them to simply be a form of advertising. However, I found one such report by Littler Mendelson to be particularly worth a read-though I still consider it a type of lawyer advertising.

Philip L. Gordon and Christopher E. Cobey  in a story entitled   DOOCES WILD: How Employers Can Survive the New Technological Poker Game of Employee Blogging recommends that employers adopt employee blogging policies (you know who drafts such policies and that is where the advertising comes in).

The authors point out that a number of employees have been "dooced" (fired because of the harmful content and public availability of their blog) and employers and employees can benefit by clear employer policies. What should these policies provide? The authors state:

All blogging policies should specify the types of conduct, especially that peculiar to the public nature of blogging, which could result in discipline. Categories of conduct normally addressed in blogging policies include the following:

• Disclaimer of Corporate Responsibility: Bloggers should be instructed to state that the opinions expressed in the blog about work-related matters are their own and have not been reviewed or approved by the employer. In the same vein, bloggers should also be instructed to state that they assume full responsibility and liability for any work-related content contained in the blog. These statements are particularly important when the employer otherwise encourages blogging by its employees.
• Confidential Company Information: Bloggers are required to comply with the company's policies protecting its trade secrets and other confidential information and with provisions protecting trade secrets contained in any employment agreement.
• Securities Regulations: Bloggers should not disclose "insider information" and may be required by the employer not to address any company-related activity during certain black out periods required by securities laws and regulations.
• Company Logo/Trademark: The policy should explain when, if at all, the employee-blogger may reproduce the company's identifying marks within the blog.
• Copyrighted Material: The policy should explain the potential civil and criminal penalties of posting in the blog copyrighted material without authorization.
• Be Respectful: The blog should not become a vehicle for personal attacks on the company, its products, its executives, supervisors, coworkers, competitors, or competitors' products.

To avoid having the blogging policy become encyclopedic while ensuring its completeness, the policy should cross-reference related policies, such as the company's policies on the proper use of electronic resources, prohibiting discrimination and harassment, and addressing confidential and insider information.

This article is not dated, but I first saw it on Find Law on July 15, 2008. I am not sure that I would go so far as recommend that employers "must have" blogging policies, but I suppose it could not hurt to have one. Query whether such policies are a mandatory subject of collective bargaining for unionized employees and query whether such policies would cut down employer exposure in wrongful discharge type suits. Some law review commentary may well be worth exploring these issues.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein