NLRB Provides Guidance Regarding Social Media Sites

http://ow.ly/6qrZr

An article by Leah Williams posted on Data Privacy Monitor.

This article discusses NLRB guidelines regarding the use of social media, and what employee speech is protected.

The article discusses the recent case decision from early September where an NLRB Judge ruled that employees fired for comments made on Facebook had to be reinstated, since the speech they engaged in was protected (referenced in another article on this blog earlier this week).

The author outlined examples from recent NLRB advisory opinions as well, to shed further clarification as to what types of speech are protected.  As the article states:

"SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITIES PROTECTED UNDER THE NLRA

The General Counsel's report discussed four advice memorandums in which it was determined employee conduct was protected under the NLRA. The specific conduct at issue (the majority of which took place outside the workplace) involved:

1. Employees complaining to each other via Facebook (with expletives) about their employer's tax withholding practices;

2. A commission-paid employee posting on Facebook pictures and sarcastic commentary criticizing the inexpensive manner in which his employer conducted a sales event;

3. An employee posting negative comments on Facebook about a supervisor (including calling him a "scumbag"), who was investigating a customer complaint against the employee; and

4. Multiple employees posting comments (which included swear words and sarcasm) on Facebook criticizing the work performance of their coworkers and staffing level problems.

In each of the above situations, the conduct was deemed protected under the NLRA because: (1) the communications concerned the terms and conditions of employment; (2) the subject of the communication was brought to management's attention or the employee had reason to believe the communication would result in a discussion with management; (3) the communications addressed employees' shared concerns; and (4) the communications were directed at coworkers and/or discussed with coworkers."

The article also outlines further examples of situations involving social media posts where speech would not be protected.