Employment Law – Background
Employers can take pre-employment steps to safeguard intellectual and commercial property such as company information or Linkedin connections. Furthermore, HR needs to establish a compliance framework for employee conduct, expectations and obligations.
In addition, an ex-employee’s Linkedin connections are ‘unlikely’ to be defined as trade secrets belonging to the former employer.
Employment Law – Tips for Employers
Our Matthews Folbigg Workplace Solutions employment law team recommends employers:
- insert key restraint of trade provisions. These should explicitly refer to the use of social media connections
- include restrictive terms for the post-employment period. For instance, restricting the use of social media to publish or share content
- obtain a list of the employee’s current social media connections
- include terms which provide that connections gained during the course of employment are the property of the employer
- creating appropriate social media policies and guidelines. These should cover the course of employment and post-employment.
- train employees to ensure understanding of obligations
- draft new/changes to employment contracts with the assistance of an employment lawyer
- draft new/changes to employment law policies with the assistance of an employment lawyer
- speak to an employment lawyer about what company information can be protected
- ensure employment contracts and employment law policies comply with relevant employment laws, Fair Work Commission decisions, common law employment law principles and contractual obligations
Employment Law – More Information
Please call the leading employment lawyers in Parramatta, the Matthews Folbigg Workplace Solutions employment law team on 9635-7966 to speak with one of our employment lawyers.