Law.com reports here on a case out of Washington, D.C., that upheld the privileged nature of attorney-client communications sent from an email account at work. We previously posted on this issue here. More after the break.
Contributed by Eric A. Welter.Archive for the ‘Privacy’ Category
DC Court Upholds Attorney-Client Privilege Of Emails Sent From Work
Monday, December 14th, 2009Employees Fired For MySpace Comments Win Verdict
Thursday, October 1st, 2009On June 16, 2009, a New Jersey federal court jury found in favor of two former restaurant employees who sued their employer when they were fired for posting comments about the restaurant and its managers on a MySpace account. The jury awarded $2,500 in compensatory damages to Brian Pietrylo, and $903 to Doreen Marino. By stipulation of the parties, punitive damages were awarded in the amount of four times the compensatory damages.
The case is Pietrylo v. Hillstone Restaurant Group. The court’s opinion on post-trial motions can be read here. The jury verdict form is here.
The punch line? More after the break.
Contributed by Eric A. Welter.New Jersey Court Orders Return Of Emails Found On Employee Computer
Monday, September 14th, 2009A New Jersey appellate court has ordered the return of emails between a former employee/plaintiff and her attorney that had been discovered on her workplace computer by a forensic investigator working for the employer’s attorney. Ride the Lightning blog has the story here. More after the break.
Contributed by Eric A. Welter.Interesting Article On Implications Of Monitoring Electronic Communications
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009For those interested in this topic, the VBA News Journal has a very interesting and informative article this month about electronic evidence. The article is entitled “The Electronic Peephole: E-Evidence in Family Law Cases.” It can be found at page 18 of the Journal here. More after the break.
Maryland Personal Information Protection Act
Friday, December 21st, 2007Beginning on January 1, 2008, Maryland businesses will have new obligations with respect to how they use and maintain personal information about individuals residing in the State. The Maryland Personal Information Protection Act is a comprehensive data security law that seeks to provide individuals, including employees and job applicants, with increased privacy and security of their personal information. It is designed to provide protection from identity theft.
Checking Out Job Applicants On The Internet
Friday, November 23rd, 2007Thanksgiving dinner brought out a number of interesting anecdotes about the practice by employers of screening job applicants based on their Facebook or MySpace pages. Apparently it is now common for hiring managers to review social networking sites of applicants to see whether they “fit” the department’s culture. One article cites a 2006 CareerBuilder.com survey as reporting that 26% of hiring managers ran an internet search on applicants while only 12% checked social networking sites. Recent stats here may suggest those figures are low.
