I was oblivious to the real significance of Facebook in everyday life until the company disabled my personal, private thomhartmann account. The list of “possible” reasons they posted for doing this included “impersonating a celebrity,” so maybe they shut me down because they thought I pretending to be that guy who’s a talk show host and author. (Facebook, …
The FTC on Wednesday officially unveiled its $5 billion data privacy settlement with Facebook — adding to the outrage of Democratic lawmakers and regulators who called the provisions far too mild to hold the social media giant accountable or deter future misdeeds. In addition to the fine — by far the largest privacy-related settlement the …
FTC strikes $5B Facebook settlement against fierce Democratic objections Read More »
A hurricane has been brewing at Facebook. After years of suspicion, a veteran female Facebook engineer decided to evaluate what if any gaps there were in how female and male engineers’ work was treated. She did it “so that we can have an insight into how the review process impacts people in various groups,” the …
Facebook’s gender bias goes so deep it’s in the code Read More »
Facebook issued new employee benefit guidelines that raise minimum pay to $15 and extends leave for third-party contract employees who work behind the scenes on the social network’s campuses. In a blog post Tuesday, Facebook’s chief operations executive Sheryl Sandberg wrote that contractors and vendors in U.S. will have to adhere to new standards, including …
Facebook Just Made Sure Even Their Janitors Are Making At Least $15 An Hour Read More »
In a closely watched case, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday that a “Like” on Facebook is a form of speech that is protected under the First Amendment. In doing so, it kept alive a lawsuit brought by an employee who claims he was fired for supporting an political candidate who was running against his boss. The WSJ Law …
A “Like” is a Like, Court Says, and is Protected Free Speech Read More »
Two labor unions representing workers at supermarket chains are reporting success in efforts to protect their members from employers who want to impose restrictive rules on the use of social media outside the workplace. Leaders of the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) union and the Teamsters have successfully backed down a large multinational conglomerate …
Workers Win Facebook Fight Against Huge Supermarket Chain Read More »
Texas Doctor To Collect Over 10 Million On Defamation/Breach of Contract Case The Supreme Court of Texas cleared the way for Dr. Neal Fisher, a Dallas physician, to collect his 9.8 million dollar verdict against Pinnacle Anesthesia Consultants – an anesthesia group of which he was a shareholder and founding member. Fisher sued Pinnacle for …
In an era where it’s not unheard of for an employee’s use of social media to lead to their dismissal, one question that comes up more frequently these days regarding a worker’s rights is “Can I say that on Facebook?” This week, the National Labor Relations Board alleged that a Connecticut company acted illegally when …
Protected freedom of speech for workers on Facebook? Read More »
Someone sent me an email earlier entitled, “U.S. Senate Declares National Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week.” The big week of recognition is slotted to begin September 12th. In the announcement for “Recognition Week,” Senator Ben Nelson says, “Direct support professionals provide an invaluable service to the millions of Americans living with disabilities. I’m proud to …
I recognize you do amazing work, but you’re still not getting minimum wage Read More »
Is there anyone out there who hasn’t heard of Jet Blue flight attendant Steven Slater’s profanity filled tirade and exit down the emergency chute carrying beer? From the Asian animation of his battle with the passenger, 140,000 Facebook fans and T-Shirts, we finally have an authentic working class hero who symbolizes all the frustrations of …
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
