Ms. Pao’s resignation from Reddit, however, raises different and potentially disturbing implications about the potential for harassment and abuse over social media.

As background, Reddit and Ms. Pao came under criticism over the past several weeks after Reddit terminated the employment of executive Victoria Taylor, a move which turned out to be wildly unpopular among Reddit’ s online community. As a first stage of protest, many of the sites message boards were shut down by the “moderators,” volunteers who monitor the “sub-Reddit,” the smaller user communities within Reddit. Ms. Pao then apologized on July 6 for the handling of Ms. Taylor’s dismissal, and for a “long history of mistakes” by the company. That apparently did not quell the uproar or satisfy her critics. An online petition demanding her dismissal garnered 213,000 signatures. More disturbing, however, were the comments Reddit users began posting about Ms. Pao. I have looked at some of these comments myself, and some are truly horrific. They range from profanity, some of which is blatantly sexist and racist, to death threats. Of course, most of these posts were anonymous.

Putting aside why Ms. Taylor was terminated (which no one other than the Reddit management team knows) or whether Ms. Pao and the Reddit management handled that correctly, Ms. Pao clearly did not deserve the hateful comments which were directed at her. Even Reddit’s Chairman Sam Altman came out, as he was announcing her resignation, to criticize some of the comments about her, calling it “sickening”. Other former Reddit moderators, such as Katherine Cross, have since observed that the Reddit platform seems to incite abuse by “harassment swarms” that are “ginned up by the websites more toxic users and communities.”

This incident offers a high profile example of the kind of anonymous bullying which can occur on social media, and which employers should be wary of among their own employees. The ability of your employees, whether using some message board or social media or internet site, to post nasty or abusive or discriminatory comments about their co-workers or managers is a growing problem. Studies and experience have shown that people are much more willing to “say” mean and abusive things when they can hide behind the anonymity of the internet. There is also a “mob” mentality, when a group of people gather on a site, and start feeding off each other. This Ellen Pao incident is a prime example of such cyber-bullying.

Adding to the complexity of this issue, an employer’s ability to discipline employees for this type of behavior is limited by the National Labor Relations Board, which has taken a very expansive view of employee “protected activity.” Thus, you must proceed carefully before you discipline an employee for social media activity.

The law requires employers to maintain a workplace which is free from abuse and harassment, whether that abuse happens “live” or is received electronically. This is a huge challenge, especially if an employee complains of abuse which they are receiving outside of work hours, through electronic channels which the employer does not control. The law will not expect you to work miracles, but you will be expected to respond to such a situation. When I have faced this with clients, we have made an attempt to investigate internally and then have assisted or supported the employee if she has chosen to the police to make a complaint. Again, while it is impossible for an employer to monitor all of your employees behavior, you do need to take the steps you can to prevent on-line harassment if you become aware of it.

Joined by Mar Hershenson, managing partner at Pejman Mar Ventures, Ms. Hoey and Ms. Hershenson talked about the lawsuit and a Bloomberg West interview with Kleiner Perkins partner John Doerr in which he said he was unable to settle the case outside of court and that the venture capital industry has publicly been cast as treating women unequally, despite the fact that the firm was found not liable.

With respect to the recent ruling awarding Kleiner Perkins $276,000 in attorney's fees, Ms. Hoey said, "I think [the judge is] trying to send a message: end this, this should be over, the verdict is final and both sides should respect the verdict and move on.”

To see the entire interview, click here.

First, there were alleged “slights” in the treatment of women at Kleiner. For example, women partners were not invited to an important client dinner with Vice President Al Gore and then were excluded from a company ski trip. One male partner asked two female junior partners to take notes at a meeting. The firm has explanations for all of these incidents, but women felt that they were being treated as second-class citizens.

Then there are the more significant “events” and incidents. It is undisputed that Ms. Pao had a consensual affair with a married partner. When that ended, the same partner appeared at the door of yet another female partner’s hotel room in a bathrobe carrying a wine bottle. When that woman complained, a partner suggested she “did not want to go public” and that she should be “flattered” by his attention. When Ms. Pao tried to complain about the partner, senior partner John Doerr laughed it off, claiming the partner was a “sex addict.”

Beyond these lurid incidents, the testimony also reveals a deeper possible double standard that the women like Ms. Pao had to endure. Ms. Pao’s evaluations revealed sometimes contradictory advice and criticism. In some situations they were told to “speak up,” while at other times they were told to be quiet.

When outside counsel (a male law firm partner) was finally brought in to investigate Ms. Pao’s complaint, it is alleged that no one could locate a copy of the firm’s harassment policy. When asked about Ms. Pao, Mr. Doerr told the investigator she had a “female chip on her shoulder.” Once he made his report, Mr. Doerr did not have time to read it, so it was merely “summarized” for him. There are also now allegations from Ms. Pao that the outside counsel was biased, as he was trying to get hired by Kleiner for an in-house position.

Ultimately, Ms. Pao claims that she was terminated in retaliation for reporting this alleged harassment.

Again, the trial continues and the defense is now cross-examining Ms. Pao and putting some holes in her story, but many of the facts which have come out at the trial are disturbing.

So you may ask yourself what does this case have to do with my company?

While the incidents which are alleged in the Pao case may not happen in every workplace, they do bear a strange similarity to some of the allegations in the recent Faruqi harassment lawsuit in New York, so patterns emerge which all employers should take note of:

• It’s Not Just About a Policy - Remember that your harassment policy should be a living, breathing thing – which everyone not only knows about, but follows. It should be more than a piece of paper; it should be part of your culture. It never hurts to have an annual reminder or training for management on respectful behavior in the workplace. Make sure all of your employees also know the policy and know how to complain if needed. Also, respectful behavior starts at the top, so if senior executives treat women and all employees with respect, then that attitude will trickle down to the rest of the staff.

• Love (At Work) Is not a “Many Splendored Thing” – Affairs, even totally consensual affairs, between and among employees, and especially where a more senior executive is having an affair with someone at a more junior level, rarely are a good thing for the employer. As we see in these cases, these relationships may end badly and then the “he said/ she said” battle begins. The company will rarely be able to sort this out. Also, they can stir resentment and bad feelings among other staff. Senior executives should be reminded that affairs with those junior to them are frowned upon.

• The workplace does not end at your office door - The Pao and Faruqi lawsuits both included allegations of “bad” behavior on business trips and at firm social functions, most of which included some over-use of alcohol. Again, remind your executives especially that they are always representing the company, and that their behavior – whether on a business trip or holiday party – MUST be professional at all times. The reality is that the company can be liable for the behavior of a senior executive at these events, and executives need to be aware of that.