[Tech Tuesday] Facebook's Excuse for Its Lack of Workplace Diversity

Facebook is among many multi-million corporations that struggles with diversifying its workforce.

Last week, the corporation's head of diversity blamed what those inside tech refer to as "the pipeline" for the company's unimpressive percentage of Black and Hispanic employees. The numbers? Two percent and four percent respectively.

Forbes reports that Williams told the Wall Street Journal that "it has become clear that at the most fundamental level, appropriate representation in technology or any other industry will depend upon more people having the opportunity to gain necessary skills through the public education system."

Read the full story by Ebony here.

Employers requesting Facebook access may face federal consequences

Lexology
Greenberg Traurig LLP
Peter N. Hall
USA
March 26 2012

Add the United States Senate to the growing list of legislative bodies considering new laws that would ban employers from requiring job applicants to turn over their Facebook usernames and passwords as part of the background investigation process. As the number of stories of applicants rejected or employees being “Facebook-fired” has grown, savvy social media users have adapted by increasing their privacy settings to the point where approximately 3 out of 4 Facebook pages hide information from public view.

Full Story: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=78fc5614-3a47-4683-8195-5343e46acce9&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Other+top+stories&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2012-03-30&utm_term=

Facebook stalking in the name of affirmative action

Christian Science Monitor

Ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on affirmative action, I recall how at Roll Call newspaper, I was told that one of our three interns had to be from a racial minority. Diversity is important, but giving someone an advantage beyond his experience degrades the applicant and the hirer.

By Debra Bruno / March 21, 2012

Beijing


There I was, Facebook stalking again. But I wasn’t chasing after an old boyfriend or trying to see if my niece was having too good a time in Italy. As the internship coordinator for Roll Call (now CQ Roll Call), a newspaper covering Congress on Capitol Hill, I was looking at the faces of candidates for internships.

Full Story: http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/0321/Facebook-stalking-in-the-name-of-affirmative-action

Purdue Professor Who Ripped Muslims on Facebook Is Cleared of Discrimination

The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 28, 2012, 10:17 pm

Purdue University-Calumet has cleared a professor of discrimination and harassment charges filed against him after he used his Facebook page to harshly criticize Muslims and to publish comments many regarded as blasphemous, the Journal and Courier reported. The campus’s Muslim Student Association, faculty members, and students had brought a total of nine discrimination charges against Maurice M. Eisenstein, an associate professor of political science, after he posted the controversial comments in November.

Full Story: http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/purdue-professor-who-ripped-muslims-on-facebook-is-cleared-of-discrimination/40966?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Buffalo Nonprofit Violated Workers’ Rights in Facebook-Related Firings

Workforce Management
September 7, 2011
Filed by Judy Greenwald of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management.

The National Labor Relations Board said Sept. 7 that an NLRB judge has ruled a Buffalo, N.Y., nonprofit unlawfully discharged five employees after they posted comments on Facebook about their working conditions.
According to the Sept. 2 ruling, on Oct. 9, 2010—a Saturday and nonworking day for employees of Hispanics United of Buffalo—Mariana Cole-Rivera posted a message on her Facebook page from her personal computer that said, “Lydia Cruz, a coworker feels that we don’t help our clients at HUB (sic) I about had it! My fellow coworkers how do u feel?”
Several co-workers responded with comments expressing frustration with their job.

Full Story: http://www.workforce.com/section/news/article/buffalo-nonprofit-violated-workers-rights-facebook-related.php

First Facebook and now Twitter ... social media legal compliance challenges are no "LOL" matter!

Lexology.com
Foley & Lardner LLP
Scott Callen
USA
April 18 2011

Employees continue to file suits challenging company social media handbook policies and companies who discipline employee use of online tools like LinkedIn and Facebook. The New York Times recently reported, and various other media reports indicate, that absent a settlement, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) plans to commence a legal proceeding challenging a company's social media policies and response (possible verbal reprimand) involving an employee's Twitter post related to the company's cooperation with union members.
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is a federal labor law that prohibits companies from violating a worker's federally protected right to engage in concerted, protected activity with co-workers to improve working conditions. The NLRB will commence legal proceedings claiming the company improperly restricted the employee's right to use Twitter to discuss working conditions with co-workers and implemented an unlawful social media policy that chilled employees' rights to discuss working conditions, which the NLRB will assert is a violation of Section 8(a)1 of the NLRA.

Full Story: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=dded1225-0d5a-4e58-a773-0420eec7a11e&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+Federal+section&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2011-04-21&utm_term=

Settlement Reached in Firing Over Facebook Post

Workforce Management
A Connecticut woman was fired in December 2009 after disagreements between her and her supervisor culminated in the woman’s posting of negative remarks about the supervisor on her personal Facebook page. By Jeff Casale

A settlement in the case involving an employee who was fired for posting negative comments about a supervisor on her Facebook page was made on Feb. 7, the eve of a scheduled hearing.
The National Labor Relations Board’s Hartford, Connecticut, regional office and American Medical Response of Connecticut Inc., worked out an agreement before a hearing regarding Dawnmarie Souza, a union worker for AMR’s New Haven office. She was fired in December 2009 after disagreements between her and her supervisor culminated in Souza’s posting of negative remarks about the supervisor on her personal Facebook page.

Full Story: http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/software-technology/settlement-reached-firing-over-facebook-post/index.php

Workplace Guidance Remains Elusive After Facebook Posting Case Is Settled

Workforce.com
February 9, 2011
In the agreement, American Medical Response agreed to ‘revise its overly broad rules’ to ensure that employees’ rights to discuss working conditions are protected, according to a written statement by the NLRB.

Employees may be rejoicing, but some legal experts are disappointed that the National Labor Relations Board reached a settlement on Feb. 7 with a company that fired an employee for bad mouthing her boss on Facebook, dashing hopes for a legal precedent to guide employers’ social media policies.
Dawnmarie Souza, an emergency medical technician with ambulance service company American Medical Response of Connecticut, was fired in 2009 after criticizing her supervisor on Facebook. Her case was scheduled to be heard before a federal labor board judge in Hartford, Connecticut, on Feb. 8.

Full Story: http://www.workforce.com/section/news/article/workplace-guidance-remains-elusive-after-facebook-posting.php

Company Accused of Firing Over Facebook Post

The New York Times
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: November 8, 2010

In what labor officials and lawyers view as a ground-breaking case involving workers and social media, the National Labor Relations Board has accused a company of illegally firing an employee after she criticized her supervisor on her Facebook page.
This is the first case in which the labor board has stepped in to argue that workers’ criticisms of their bosses or companies on a social networking site are generally a protected activity and that employers would be violating the law by punishing workers for such statements.

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/business/09facebook.html?_r=1&hp

Race-based Facebook Controversy Stirs Minnesota Campus

Diverse Issues in Higher Education
by John Lundy, Duluth News Tribune , April 26, 2010

The Facebook conversation that roiled the University of Minnesota Duluth in mid-April continued to reverberate last week culminating in an emotional forum on campus.
“What we see here is an escalation of vitriolic bigotry and racism,” said Helen Mongan-Rallis, who facilitated the Wednesday afternoon gathering of about 100 students, faculty and administrators in the Rafters, a meeting place on the top floor of the Kirby Student Center.
“The outrage [is] that White people would act so surprised that this happened,” said Mongan-Rallis, who is White and a native of South Africa. “For people of color this is not new.”
What happened was a conversation on the social-networking site Facebook on April 14 between two White female students after a Black female student entered the room, describing the Black student and referring to her race in derogatory terms. The conversation was posted on the students’ “walls,” making it available to all of their Facebook friends, and it quickly spread from there. One of the students has 786 friends on Facebook, Mongan-Rallis said.

Full Story: http://diverseeducation.com/article/13735/race-based-facebook-controversy-stirs-minnesota-campus.html

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