Social media is something that people really need to be careful of nowadays in terms of whatever you post after an injury. Employers will routinely look at Facebook pages and things like that. I’ve had some employers pull some underhanded stuff. For example, I have one client who has had three back surgeries and walks with a cane, but before he got injured he had a Harley and he used to love riding his Harley. He had pictures on his Facebook page of him and his wife riding the Harley. The employer reproduced a page from his Facebook post of him riding a Harley. They came to the hearing and said he told all the doctors that he can’t ride anymore and that he sold his bike.
We were able to determine that the picture they presented – if you blew up the whole thing and saw the date on the bottom of it – was from four years earlier. I love having those kinds of hearings. To see the look on the defense council’s eyes when the whole thing just goes poof. The fella who was on the other side didn’t necessarily know this, but I think some paralegal or someone else in his office found this picture and thought they had caught my client, but they didn’t. However, you need to be careful what you post.
Some employers more than others will send people to follow you around, hide in a van, or go to your Zumba class. Sometimes those things are good. If your doctor tells you to go to your Zumba class, then there is no reason not to. But if you tell everyone that you cannot move or do anything and they find you lifting the lawn timbers than that’s not very good. So be careful what you post because employers will look at that.
