Smooth Transitions : Rob Radcliff : Texas Non-Compete Lawyer & Attorney : Langley Weinstein LLP Law Firm : Dallas Employment & Employee Departures : Smooth Transitions Law Blog

Keeping with the NFL's Thanksgiving tradition, the Dallas Cowboys played the Miami Dolphins in Dallas last Thursday afternoon.  The Cowboys came out on top and now lead the NFC East.  That, however, was not grabbed my attention about the game.

In the fourth quarter, Cowboys tight-end Jason Witten caught a pass on the sideline.  His momentum carried him out of bounds where he ended up running over Cowboys Cheerleader Melissa Kellerman.  She wasn't injured and received a lot of camera time.

It is being reported that the Cowboys pulled the plug on Rae's twitter account.  This was after the following tweets:

I'm not the best at Jason Witten trust falls. ;)

Not hurtin' today, like some of y'all thought I would be!  Our TE isn't as tough as he looks...That or I'm way tougher than I look.;)

The Cowboys deny that there was any such instruction to Kellerman and that she personally made the decision to stop posting.  What actually occurred will probably never be known, but could the Cowboys or any Texas employer tell an employee to stop tweeting? 

First off, do the Cowboys have a social media policy for their cheerleaders?  Assuming there is a policy, does it prohibit them from discussing "company business".  In this case the company business would be the Witten sideline encounter.  Assuming there is such a policy the Cowboys could at least instruct Kellerman to stop tweeting about the company.  Now whether they would be entitled to actually instruct her to stay off social media all together is another issue.  That implicates free speech rights and other issues an employer does not want to implicate. According to the Cowboys there was no such instruction.

Bottom line, this is a great example of why a social media policy is a must have for most companies.  An employee can never foresee when an employee's social media activities may address goings on in the workplace, but they need to be prepared to address them with a robust policy.

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Many businesses have workplace dating policies in order to address potential conflicts of interest situations or sexual harassment claims. Another reason to consider having a policy is in the event of a relationship where one or both of the participants is married.

Many employers will run into a situation where this is an office affair. This could be between subordinates or a superior/subordinate relationship. Unfortunately, as long as people are people, these types of situations are going to arise. 

These types of relationships are distracting, generate all sorts of rumors within the workplace, and ultimately impact productivity. Employers need to be out in front by having a clear policy that is appropriately tailored for their business and circumstances.  Companies generally don't have anti-affair policies so in most circumstances the relationship will be governed by the dating policy.

There are a number of different policies that can be employed that range from outright prohibitions (which can be problematic) to a modified policy that requires a consent/disclosure. There is no one size fits all solution but some type of policy is recommended. 

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Some interesting stories in the world of non-compete agreement enforcement from around the United States:

 Non-Competes and Arbitration Provisions - An interesting case out of the Tenth Court of Appeals where the Court ruled reformation of a non-compete agreement could not be used to avoid an arbitration clause.

Updating Non-Competes - A nice discussion by the lawyers of Jackson Lewis about the importance of keeping non-competes up to date after a change in ownership.

Non-Competes for Salons - A case from Connecticut arising from the enforcement of a non-compete in the salon industry.

$52 Million Verdict - Breakdown of a big verdict in a non-compete case from Idaho.

Non-Competes in Arizona Medical Practices - A detailed analysis of the use of non-competes in healthcare.  

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A society fails when it cannot protect its own children.  To me that is the bottom line from the tragedy at Penn State.  What occurred could have been prevented at so many different levels from the prosecutor to the assistant coach to the coach, there is plenty of blame to spread around.  The criminal justice system, civil justice system, and other investigations will sort through those facts and conclusions will be reached.

Joe Paterno apparently complied with "policy" by reporting what his assistant coach saw.  Employment lawyers are in the business of creating policy through employee handbooks and contracts that attempt to address all sorts of situations and legal issues.  The reality is that there is no handbook that can possibly address every scenario out there and we must rely upon the discretion and judgment of the individual executive or entry level employee to do the right thing.

We expected more from a man/coach/leader like Joe Paterno and he failed to live up to our expectations.  But we also must maintain high expectations for ourselves, co-workers, superiors, and subordinates as we navigate through our day to day lives.  It is incumbent upon employers to create an environment where employees can report wrongful conduct and it is incumbent upon employees to act when necessary.  It's a sad day for us all when complying with policy is all that is expected. 

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