Social media has changed nearly everything about the world around us, often bringing people closer together, and (perhaps predictably) spawning a host of new legal questions. Some issues are new in this social media and technology era, such as the commercial use of location-based cellphone data or the rules for searches of electronic devices. In the employment context, however, social media has not necessarily created new claims but instead acted as a new platform for existing claims. As social media continues to grow, both employers and employees alike are being forced to take a fresh look at claims that have existed for years.
One of the newest trends in the practice of employment law is the impact of social media on restrictive covenants: noncompetition, nonsolicitation and strict confidentiality agreements that attempt to restrict how employees and former employees can act. Pennsylvania, along with most states, has long required that noncompetition agreements be reasonable in duration and extent and be reasonably necessary for the protection of the employer’s interests, per Hess v. Gebhard & Co., 808 A.2d 912, 917 (Pa. 2002). Although existing case law is fairly well developed to handle the issues that typically arise, the widespread use of social media has raised an entirely new slate of legal questions that are now confronting courts nationwide.
