#TBT ANTI-GRAFFITI PAINTING THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN

Over the years, the iconic Hollywood Sign has been sprayed with graffiti from artists ranging from gang members to lovers to adventurers — all wanting to leave their mark.

As public relations’ rep for Textured Coatings of America (TCA), a Los Angeles-based company that manufactures paint and, among other specialty products, an anti-graffiti chemical coating, it’s not hard to figure out how a graffiti-covered sign and a company with an anti-graffiti coating fit together …

Working with the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, we arranged for Textured Coatings of America to donate the supplies and labor to re-paint the Hollywood Sign’s 50-foot-high letters and coat them with Tex-Cote Graffiti-Guard®.

The project cost Tex-Cote more than $25,000 and took about a week to complete.

As the final day approached, we held a press conference in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce and invited every Los Angeles newspaper, television and radio station to attend.

As the press conference was underway, we could see the television helicopters flying over the Hollywood Sign as the anti-graffiti coating was being applied.

The Mayor of Los Angeles created a committee titled “The Mayor’s Committee for Graffiti Removal” and TCA’s CEO, Stuart Haines, was named Chairman.

What made this such a smashing success? Why did editors and reporters jump all over this story? Two main reasons:

• The Hollywood Sign is an icon, one everyone recognizes and cares about.
• The story was about the city and the sign, not about Tex-Cote.

Editors and reporters are not in the business of advertising companies. They care more about how your business engages and benefits the community than how your business makes you money. Yes, they are interested in new products (Tex-Cote’s anti-graffiti coating), but they are more interested in how those products benefit the community and the public.

For Textured Coatings of America, demonstrating how their product works by donating their time and money, earned them national publicity for more than a year, just from that one event.

Employers Take Note: The US Supreme Court has Entered the Digital Age

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Published in Citations on Aug. 1, 2014. 

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By JILL FRIEDMAN

Social media blew up over the US Supreme Court’s June 30 decision in Hobby Lobby. The uproar nearly squelched any chatter about the Court’s historic, nearly unanimous opinion just five days earlier in Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie, which were combined into one decision (collectively “Riley”). Both cases in Riley involve whether and how to apply the "search incident to arrest" doctrine to cell phones that police find in the possession of an arrestee. The Supreme Court held that police may not examine the digital contents of an arrestee’s cell phone as part of a search incident to arrest. 

The Riley case was a huge Fourth Amendment decision, but more importantly for civil practitioners, the US Supreme Court recognized for the first time the huge potential for invasion of privacy related to searches of digital data. The Court specifically said that a typical cell phone contains extensive data that allows a viewer to learn information about every feature of the cell phone owner’s life. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority (all justices joined, with Justice Alito concurring in part and concurring in the judgment), noted, “Indeed, a cell phone search would typically expose to the government far more than the most exhaustive search of a house: A phone not only contains in digital form many sensitive records previously found in the home; it also contains a broad array of private information never found in a home in any form – unless the phone is.” This was the first US Supreme Court ruling on privacy in the digital age, and its impact is expected to extend well beyond personal cell phone usage.

Law constantly struggles to keep pace with technology. As employers attempt to keep up with technology, the boundaries between business interests and employees’ privacy rights often become blurred. For example, while an employer may be tempted to review a job candidate’s social media posts, potential liability looms when snooping social media sites leads to discrimination. What happens when an employer hires someone else after discovering through social media that a potential employee is disabled, a member of a religious or political minority group, or is in a same-sex marriage? It may be difficult to prove that the information was not used in making the hiring decision if evidence shows that the search was conducted. Even if the employer ultimately prevails, it is an expensive exercise in employer rights versus First Amendment freedoms.

The lines become less defined in the workplace. What happens when employees use company-owned cell phones or work from home using company-owned computers? What happens when an employee uses company-owned equipment to post on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram? The Riley decision gives us a glimpse of where the law might be heading in this regard, but it is still largely unchartered territory. 

Certainly an employer can access an employee’s social media activity that is available to the general public. An employer may also monitor an employee’s social media activity where the activity takes place using employer-issued equipment or on an employer owned network. But what does an employer do with information gained through social media? Employee use of social media can raise a whole host of issues, including disclosure of the employer’s confidential, privileged and proprietary information — all of which an employer would be legitimately have an interested.

The federal Stored Communications Act (the “SCA”) protects stored electronic communications that are configured to be private. Courts have found that social media activity, such as non-public Facebook posts, is protected under the SCA. Therefore, an employer potentially violates the SCA where it accesses an employee’s non-public Facebook posts without the employee’s authorization. 

Some statutes help define the boundaries, but are by no means definitive. California Labor Code section 980, enacted in 2012, prohibits an employer from requesting a job applicant or employee for access to his or her social media, except in limited circumstances. Section (b) of the statute provides that an employer may not “require or request” a job applicant or employee to do any of the following: (1) Disclose a username or password for the purpose of accessing personal social media; (2) Access personal social media in the presence of the employer; or (3) Divulge any personal social media. However, an employer may request that the employee “divulge any personal social media” if it is relevant to a formal investigation. The statute does not preclude an employer from requiring or requesting an employee to disclose a username, password, or other method for the purpose of accessing an employer-issued electronic device.

Where an employer elects to monitor its employees’ social media activity, the employer must proceed carefully if and when it uses the information learned to discipline or terminate an employee. Terminating or disciplining an employee based on information gained through monitoring the employee’s social media activity potentially violates existing law. For example, the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) protects the right of employees to engage in concerted activities. Generally, this requires two or more employees acting together to improve wages or working conditions, but the action of a single employee may be considered concerted if he or she involves co-workers before acting, or acts on behalf of others. An employer who is considering terminating or disciplining the employee after learning that an employee is making derogatory posts about the employer on his or her Facebook page that are shared with other co-workers, should consider whether the employee’s posts would be considered concerted activity protected by the NLRA.

Any employer who intends to monitor its employees’ social media activity on employer-issued equipment or employer-owned networks should disseminate written policies that inform employees that they have no expectation of privacy for any social media activity sent or received on employer-owned networks or using employer-issued equipment and that all such communications and activity may be monitored. In a litigation context, such policies help demonstrate that employees do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in any activity they conduct on an employer’s network or using an employer’s equipment.

Even with such policies in place, employers do not have free reign. An employer should only use legal means to monitor an employee’s social media activity, regardless of the equipment or network on which this activity takes place. For example, an employer can access an employee’s social media accounts that are generally available to the public. However, an employer should never attempt to gain access to an employee’s private social media account through the use of deceptive means, like using a false identity or by obtaining the employee’s private password from a friend or coworker.

“Privacy comes at a cost,” wrote Roberts in Riley. Employers who monitor their employees’ and potential employees’ social media posts may end up paying the price. Time will tell where the line is to be drawn between employers’ interests and employees’ privacy rights. In the meantime, however, employers should be on their toes, ready to adapt to the changing landscape of privacy rights in the digital age. 

Jill Friedman is an attorney and litigator at Myers, Widders, Gibson, Jones & Feingold, LLP. She has been successful in trying civil cases on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. She earned her B.A. in English from UC Los Angeles and her J.D. from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.

To contact Ms. Friedman, call 805-644-7188 or email jfriedman@mwgjlaw.com.

PR firm launches national 24/7 PR AdviceLine™

The Goddard Company Public Relations & Marketing has launched a national 24/7 Public Relations AdviceLine. The service gives businesses immediate access to PR professionals who have more than 20 years of experience.

PR AdviceLine™ subscribers can call to discuss brand management, reputation management, story development, crisis management, interview coaching and preparation and more.

The Goddard Company PR AdviceLine™ is available to any company, entrepreneur, start-up, small business, communications executive, CEO or anyone else in need of publicity help and advice in the United States. PR AdviceLine™ subscribers can access PR expert Jennifer Goddard Combs and her team, 24 hours a day, seven days a week via phone or email.

“Social Media has turned the 24-hour news cycle into the 1-hour (or less) news cycle,” said Ms. Goddard Combs, president and founder of The Goddard Company. “Now, rather than having time to pause and think following a blunder or faux pas — such as Delta’s giraffe tweet during the USA-Ghana World Cup game — companies and individuals have to respond immediately. That is why we set up this PR AdviceLine™ — to help give quick, timely PR advice when needed.”

Ms. Goddard Combs honed her skills in Los Angeles, managing publicity for people in the entertainment industry and business community. She has experience working at television network news and has secured publicity for clients everywhere from the front page of the Detroit Free Press to media coverage in China.

Her experience allows her to quickly identify what is newsworthy and formulate strategies.

In addition to the PR AdviceLine™, The Goddard Company offers project-to-project work and retainer accounts.

For more information or to become a subscriber, call The Goddard Company’s office line at 805-565-3990 or email info@thegoddardcompany.com.

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The Goddard Company Public Relations is a full-service public relations agency. The firm excels in creating and implementing successful public relations campaigns for its diverse clientele, enhancing the public image, and in turn, the sales potential of each client. President Jennifer Goddard Combs has more than 20 years of experience generating successful publicity campaigns for companies, products and nonprofits locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. For more information, call 805-565-3990.