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How Facebook Can Hurt Your Employment Case

8/12/2010

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Having attended a few seminars largely geared toward attorneys who represent employers in discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuits, I keep hearing about the same strategy that so many of these lawyers love to use - finding "dirt" on Plaintiff on the social networking sites such as Facebook that can cast negative light on them, their personality and their allegations in the lawsuit. This can range from posting like "I will do anything to get back at my employer", to uploaded photos from exotic vacations that can hardly support emotional distress claim or financial hardship that are often important elements of a case. I personally know of one case, in which the aggrieved employee, who claimed major disability discrimination, posted photos of his hiking and rock-climbing trip about two months before trial. Imagine his and his lawyer's face when the defense attorney put up those photos on the overhead after getting the Plaintiff to testify on the record about the tremendous pain he has been in for the past 2 years. Needless to say that from that point on, the jury had a hard time believing anything that plaintiff was saying. 

You might be thinking: "But... I have privacy settings that would prevent anyone except my friends to see my photos." These privacy measures are not nearly as effective for several reasons. First, you might actually be a friend of a friend of defense counsel. If you have used Facebook, twitter and other networking sites long enough, you know that the world is actually that small. Secondly, the opposing counsel can try to "befriend" one of your friends in order to get access to your information. Many people confirm random friend requests just to be nice, so one of your friends might fall into that trap. Lastly, the courts approved subpoenas for social networking activity in the past, if it was relevant to the subject litigation. 

So, if you are involved in litigation, make sure you "clean up" your online social networking life before your attorney files a lawsuit and the other sides starts searching for information about you on the internet, because be assured - they will.
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Law Office of Arkady Itkin - San Francisco & Sacramento Injury and Employment Lawyer
We represent employees and employers in employment and wrongful termination cases, as well as victims of serious injuries in San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Palo Alto, San Mateo and throughout Northern California. We all represent businesses and start-ups in a wide range of business and employment issues and disputes. 


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  • Home
  • Employment Law
    • Wrongful Termination >
      • At-Will Employment
      • Termination After Unfair Warnings and Write-Ups
      • Union Grievance, Workers Comp and Wrongful Termination
      • Labor Code 970 Claims
      • Promissory Estoppel and Employment Contracts
      • Implied Contract Claims
    • Discrimination >
      • Proving Discrimination
      • Age Discrimination
      • Disability Discrimination >
        • Protected Disabilities
        • Medical Leave / Disability Accommodations
        • Job Reassignment As A Disability Accommodation
        • SSI Disability Benefits and Your Court Case
        • Sample Request for Reasonable Accommodation
      • Pregnancy Discrimination
      • Race Discrimination
      • Sample Discrimination Complaint
      • DFEH and EEOC Investigations
    • Retaliation >
      • How to Prove Retaliation
      • Dealing with Retaliation While Still Employed
      • Retaliation for Complaining
      • Whistleblower Retaliation
    • Harassment
    • Defamation at Workplace
    • Prof. License Defense
    • Leaves of Absence >
      • Medical Leave as Reasonable Accommodation
      • FMLA Entitlement and Reinstatement to Work
      • CFRA Leave
      • Employers' FMLA Notice Obligations
      • Paternity Leave (FMLA)
      • Sample FMLA Leave Request
    • Wages / Overtime Claims >
      • Wage Claims
      • Employee or Contractor
      • Exempt / Non-Exempt >
        • Admistrative Exemption
        • IT Support Specialists Compensation
        • Computer Professional Exemption from Overtime
        • Recruiters / Account Executives Exemption
        • Complaining About Being Misclassified
      • Vacation Pay / PTO
      • On-Call Time Compensation
      • Deductions fr. Commissions
    • Unempl. Benefits Appeals >
      • Tips for EDD Phone Interview
      • Unemployment Benefits Appeal Hearing Representation
      • CUIAB Hearing Tips
    • Employment Law Blog
    • For Employers
  • Personal Injury
    • Five Tips For Injury Cases
    • Slip-and-Fall Injuries
    • Assault and Battery
    • Recorded Statements
    • Repairing Your Vehicle
    • Unpaid Medical Bills
    • Injury Law Blog
    • Medical Malpractice
    • Police Excessive Force
  • Practice Areas
  • About
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  • Contact
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    • Healthy Litigation Mindset
    • Trial Tips
    • Working Remotely
    • How To Find The Right Lawyer For Your Case