It may be legal for employees to complain about working conditions using social media
In what is being seen as a groundbreaking case by labor officials and lawyers, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has accused a company of illegally firing an employee after she criticized her supervisor on her Facebook page. Such activity, the NLRB claims, is protected activity and employers would be violating the law by punishing workers for such statements.
The labor relations board last week filed a complaint against an ambulance service, American Medical Response of Connecticut, that fired an emergency medical technician, accusing her, among other things, of violating a policy that bars employees from depicting the company in any way on Facebook or other social media sites in which they post pictures of themselves.
Lafe Solomon, the boards acting general counsel, said This is a fairly straightforward case under the National Labor Relations Act whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that.
That act gives workers a federally protected right to form unions, and it prohibits employers from punishing workers whether union or nonunion for discussing working conditions or unionization. The labor board said the companys Facebook rule was overly broad and improperly limited employees rights to discuss working conditions among themselves.
Moreover, the board faulted another company policy, one prohibiting employees from making disparaging or discriminatory comments when discussing the company or the employees superiors and co-workers.
The boards complaint prompted Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a law firm with a large labor and employment practice representing hundreds of companies, to send an advisory this week to its clients, saying all private sector employers should take note, regardless of whether their work force is represented by a union.
The firm went on to say that, employers should also review their Internet and social media policies to determine whether they are susceptible to an allegation that the policy would reasonably tend to chill employees in the exercise of their rights to discuss wages, working conditions and unionization.
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