Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat let you share your brilliance with the world, but how much of your online life do you have to share with your boss?
In Nevada, workers and job candidates enjoy some of the nation’s broadest privacy protections when it comes to information that employers can request regarding social media use.
When Gov. Brian Sandoval signed Assembly Bill No. 181 into law in 2013, it prohibited employers from requiring workers and job candidates from disclosing personal social media account information.
The law even bars exceptions for employers conducting investigations into misconduct, such as harassment. Employers that do try to regulate employee social media use can also raise National Labor Relations Board or First Amendment concerns.
Attorney Kathleen Paustian said the law is fairly new and still needs some work.
For more information: NRS 613.135
"In Nevada particularly, this law is lacking in some definitions," she said, "And one of the primary definitions is that it protects personal emails but personal is not defined."
She said other states allow employers to get social media account information for investigations, and she would like to see the same thing here.
Paustian said the most important thing for an employer to do is have a written social media policy that employees are aware of and have been trained on several times.
As for workers, Christian Gabroy, an attorney who normally represents employees in these kinds of cases, said the most important thing for people is to remember social media is often public.
"What the workers have to remember... when you have a post, when you have a tweet, when you have an image, it's out there," he said, "It is in the public domain. Employers can access it just like your friends can access it, just like a colleague can access it and just like a co-worker can access it."
He said that could be used for you or against you in any kind of dispute. For example, Gabroy said he has had cases where people are supposed to be out of work on medical leave, but are posting pictures of themselves at the beach or pool or partying at a club.
Both attorneys said social media issues are really taken on a case-by-case basis. For example, a private message on Facebook between co-workers is not out for the whole world to see, but the content of the message can matter.
What is said, who it is said and in what context can matter, they said.
Paustian also said that a company could be held liable if it does not address something an employee does or says - even if it is on social media.
"The employer is ultimately liable if there is sexual harassment that isn't corrected or if someone is hurt or killed in a work place and it had been out there on social media," she said.
Gabroy said the best advice is to wait before you hit 'post' or 'tweet' or 'done.'
"When you're dealing with social media whether it be the Facebook account, the Instagram account or the Twitter account, do not be impulsive," he said. "It is so easy to pick up your phone. It is so easy to give a rant. It is so easy to give a tweet... think before you post something."
Kathleen Paustian, employer-side attorney; Christian Gabroy, attorney who typically represents employees