By D&K's Labor & Employment Team E-mail is still the most commonly used of the many new forms of electronic media and communications options. Virtually all employees have access to computers and have assigned e-mail accounts through their employment. E-mail communication, while beneficial, is not without its drawbacks. The proliferation...
By James M. Kalny In the landmark case of State ex rel Newspapers v. Showers Wis 2d 77(1987), the Wisconsin Supreme Court first warned public officials of the dangers of engaging in a “walking quorum”—a series of gatherings among separate groups of members of a governmental body, each less than quorum size, who agree, tacitly or explicitly, to...
The evolution of electronic social media presents numerous complications in regulating employee conduct which may cause problems for the public sector employer. Employers must carefully balance liability considerations with privacy issues when regulating an employee's non-work related communications on work-issued computers, cell phones or other...
Background It is becoming increasingly common for elected officials to use electronic media such as websites or chat rooms to communicate with their constituents. While providing information or a forum to the voters is well intended, the sites and communications are likely public records, and the information exchanges may even constitute public...
By D&K's Labor & Employment Team The Wisconsin and United States Supreme Courts have made it clear that when public sector employees check into work, they do not leave their privacy rights at the door. Searches and seizures of an employee’s private property and affects are subject to Fourth Amendment restraints. Whether an employee has a...
In a decision dated December 1, 2009, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) has decided that a municipal employer may no longer maintain existing language in a collective bargaining agreement which uses the procedures of § 62.13(5) for review of discipline police or fire department employees, if the union objects upon the...
