Security Tips for Zoom Video-Conference Mediation

By: Claudia Viera

Key Security Features for Zoom Mediations

Confidential and secure conversations are a hallmark of the mediation process. Mediators who use Zoom video conference for their mediations must ensure these conversations are protected and private to the greatest extent possible.

While the risk is likely low that an unwanted attendee would appear in a private mediation, or that the mediator would fail to notice, this article summarizes key security features that mediators should use to ensure their mediations are confidential and secure. Zoom (zoom.com) continues to update its security features, so new options may soon be added.

I. Use a Mediation Waiting Room 

One of the best ways to use Zoom for private mediations is to enable the Waiting Room feature. The Waiting Room is a virtual home page that stops your parties from joining the mediation until you admit them. You should admit only those you have invited to the mediation at the appointed time.

The mediator (host) can customize Waiting Room settings for additional control, and can even personalize the message attendees see when they arrive in the Waiting Room.

II. Manage Mediation Participants

Other features to help secure your Zoom mediation include:

• Allow only invited attendees to join: If someone tries to join your mediation and is not logged into Zoom with the email through which they were invited, they will receive a message that does not allow them in unless authenticated. The above is useful if you want to control your mediation guest list by invite only.

        • Set up two-factor authentication: Create a password for your mediation. Generate a random Meeting ID when scheduling your mediation and require a password to join. For greater security, share the Meeting ID separately from the password by email or text message to the parties.

        • Lock the mediation: When you lock a Zoom mediation after it has started, no new participants can join, even if they have the meeting ID and password (if you required one.) To lock the mediation after it has begun, click Participants at the bottom of your Zoom window. In the Participants pop-up, click the button that says Lock Meeting.

• Mute participants: Mediators can mute/unmute individual participants or all of them at once. Mediators can block unwanted, distracting, or inappropriate noise from other participants. You can also enable ‘Mute Upon Entry’ in your settings to keep background noise down in large mediations.

Each party can temporarily unmute themselves by pressing and holding the space bar.

        • Turn off file transfer:  File transfer allows people to share files through the in-meeting chat. Turn this off to keep the chat from receiving unwanted content.

        • Turn off annotation: You and your attendees can highlight and mark up content together using annotations during screen share. You can disable the annotation feature.

        • Disable private chat: Zoom has in-meeting chat for everyone, and it allows parties to message each other privately. You may restrict parties’ ability to chat with each another during the mediation (which has some downsides also.) Disabling chat prevents anyone from getting messages during the mediation. One downside of disabling chat is that parties/attorneys cannot use the Help feature to contact you when they are in the breakout room and you are not. They may instead use private cell phone calls or text messages to reach you.

III. Control Screen Sharing

The mediator should not give up control of her screen, especially when hosting a large mediation. You can control this either before or during the meeting in the host control bar settings.

To prevent parties from screen sharing during a video-conference, use the host controls at the bottom, click the arrow next to Share Screen and then Advanced Sharing Options. Under “Who can share?” choose “Only Host” and close the window. You can also lock the Screen Share by default for all your meetings in your web settings. 

At times when you would like an attorney to share the screen, you can enable this feature again during the mediation.

IV. Other Features to Control the Mediation

The following features should not be necessary if you have taken the precautions described above. However, in the case that an uninvited attendee appears:

        • Remove unwanted or disruptive participants: From the Participants menu, you can hover over a party’s name, and several options will appear, including Remove.

        • Allow removed participants to re-join: When you remove someone, they can’t rejoin the meeting, unless you alter your settings to allow removed participants to rejoin. This is useful in the case where you accidently remove the wrong person.

        • Put party on hold: You can put each participant on a temporary hold, including the party’s video and audio connections. Click on the party’s video thumbnail and select Start Attendee On Hold to activate this feature. Click Take Off Hold in the Participants list if/when you are ready to invite them back.

        • Disable video: Mediators can turn a party’s video off. This will allow mediators to block unwanted, distracting or inappropriate attendees.

V. Mediator Best Practices

1. Do not use your personal meeting ID to set up mediations. Use an automatically-generated ID.

 2. Do not record mediations or allow others to record. Specifically state at the beginning of your mediation that you do not consent to being recorded. Include a similar statement in your Agreement to Mediate and/or Confidentiality Agreement.

3. Consider potential risks before sharing documents via screen share. It may be wise, at this time, to indicate no sharing of attorney-client privilege materials via Zoom screen share.

4. Use chat only for logistics. Do not discuss attorney-client privilege materials in the chat feature.

5. Recommend that attorneys practice using Zoom with their clients prior to the day of mediation to work through technical challenges. Cellphones function, but are not ideal, and should be used as a last resort if a computer is unavailable.

VI. Other Thoughts

New flaws and fixes for those flaws are being discovered regularly. It may be that you prefer to utilize other software platforms, such as Webex, among others. Zoom continues to update its security features weekly. In addition, Zoom’s ease of use for calendaring mediations, and for hosting breakout rooms (caucuses) during mediations continues to be quite useful.  

No matter what your choice of virtual platforms for your mediations, ensure you follow all security protocols and encourage your parties to be patient and flexible as we all navigate these unusual times.

I look forward to serving you at your next mediation – whether online or eventually in person. For now, stay safe, and let’s all do our part to protect each other by meeting virtually.

 *Ideas above are based on tips from Zoom (March 20, 2020) in How to Keep the Party Crashers from Crashing Your Zoom Event in addition to more recent updates.

About the Author:  Claudia Viera, Esq., is a San Francisco Bay Area mediator focusing primarily on employment, business and contract disputes.  For more information, please contact info@vieramediation.com or  www.vieramediation.com

The Benefits of Video-Conference Mediation - Available Now

By: Claudia Viera

Attorneys (and mediators) are grappling with the best way to mediate cases, given the current Covid-19 shelter-in-place order. For attorneys concerned with supporting their clients during this difficult time, it is worth considering video-conferencing instead of re-scheduling mediation dates. While some mediations may require in-person mediations at a later date, many do not. Clients may benefit from the security of resolution sooner rather than later, and they can achieve this through the use of video-conferencing.

As a mediator with over 15 years of experience conducting in-person sessions, I have been pleased to find that the mediations I have conducted by Zoom video conference (as well as Facetime video conference) have been remarkably effective.  I have found that Zoom, in particular, allows the mediator to create a reasonable simulation of the in-person joint session and confidential private caucus meetings. 

Using Zoom, I have held private and fully confidential caucus meetings with different parties and their attorneys in breakout rooms (just as would occur in ordinary in-person mediations.)  Zoom breakout rooms do not allow participants outside the breakout room to hear or see anything that is happening inside the room, so it effectively protects conversations from the other side and from the mediator, when desired. With Zoom, it is also possible to share documents privately with the mediator in the breakout room. In addition, it is possible to share a whiteboard which the mediator can use to demonstrate a decision tree risk analysis for each side separately.

Protecting the Attorney-Client Privilege – Breakout Room Alternative
As a mediator, I understand that virtual private conference rooms may seem risky to some attorneys. Therefore, some attorneys might prefer using separate connection points for phone calls/video conferences with their clients to ensure total and complete privacy (even from the mediator). These options work well, as long as mediators ensure that all participants can be reconvened with no more than five or ten minutes’ notice. Having all parties available at all times helps streamline the mediation process considerably. 

Advance Preparation for Zoom Video-Conference Mediations
Here are some key steps to take in advance to ensure an effective use of Zoom video conference in mediation:

1) Hold a joint, pre-mediation telephone call with the mediator and all counsel to ensure that the logistics are clear to everyone. Ensure you discuss how the day will be structured, that the mediator will send the appropriate video link, whether there will be a joint session or if it will take place in caucus (breakout rooms), how the mediation documents will be signed, and so forth;

2) On the call, discuss whether attorneys would be more comfortable having a separate contact line with their clients which they organize themselves (and can utilize when the mediator is not in their breakout room);

3) Ensure that all cellphone numbers and email addresses are exchanged prior to the mediation (including those of the parties) as each participant will generally sign in separately during this shelter-in-place period;

4) Ensure that everyone sets aside the entire day for mediation and understands that scheduling other work calls will diminish and delay the process for all (although, of course, other work can be done and calls can be made while the mediator is with the other party);

5) Stress the importance of signing in to the mediation from a private, quiet room from a computer (rather than a cell phone) to ensure maximum connectivity and enhanced communication. While cell phones are adequate, the screen is generally too small to allow for effective sharing of documents, photos or other image-intensive data;

6) Encourage all parties to download and practice with Zoom prior to the date of the mediation. Using the free version of Zoom to communicate with family members is an ideal way to practice in advance;

7) Be flexible! These are unusual times and may call for unusual modes of negotiation while we work to ensure your clients’ needs for resolution, certainty and fairness are met effectively.

I look forward to serving you at your next mediation – whether online or eventually in person. For now, stay safe, and let’s all do our part to protect each other by meeting virtually.

About the Author:

Claudia Viera, Esq., is a San Francisco Bay Area mediator focusing primarily on employment, business and contract disputes.  For more information, please contact info@vieramediation.com or 510.393.7117.

www.vieramediation.com

NLRB Overrules Banner Decision: Employers May Now Require that Workplace Investigations Be Kept Confidential

By: Claudia Viera

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) recently determined that employer confidentiality policies which apply to “open workplace investigations” of employment claims (such as theft, and presumably harassment, discrimination and retaliation) are valid. In most circumstances, this allows workplace investigators to utilize standard confidentiality admonitions during the course of an open investigation when employers have such facially neutral confidentiality policies.

In its December 2019 decision in Apogee Retail [1], the NLRB indicated that, “investigative confidentiality rules similar to those at issue here but that by their terms apply only to open investigations are categorically lawful.”  Confidentiality rules which are not limited on their face to open investigations still require individualized scrutiny. This decision implies that the policy language in Apogee Retail would likely be upheld, if it were limited to open investigations, as follows: “Reporting persons and those who are interviewed are expected to maintain confidentiality regarding these investigations during the time the investigation is ongoing.” In addition, the decision implies that an Apogee Retail policy prohibiting employees from discussing the details of their interviews or the investigation with work colleagues would likely be found lawful if limited to the open investigation timeframe. The Apogee Retail case has been remanded for further consideration, so a final determination on company policies is forthcoming.

The Apogee Retail decision overruled earlier NLRB precedent set in Banner[2] which required confidentiality rules in workplace investigations to be judged on a case-by-case basis. Instead, the NLRB determined that the proper standard for workplace investigation confidentiality rules was the Boeing case.[3]

View the full Apogee Retail decision.

For further analysis, click here.

*Disclaimer: Nothing in this post should be construed as legal advice or opinion. Please consult your organization’s employment attorney for questions regarding specific policy language.

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[1] Apogee Retail LLC d/b/a Unique Thrift Store and Kathy Johnson, 368 NLRB No. 144 (December 16, 2019).
[2] Banner Estrella Medical Center, 362 NLRB 1108 (2015).
[3] Boeing Co., 365 NLRB No. 154 (2017).