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NLRB Complaint is a Warning to Companies Policing Social Media Use

By Stephanie Robinson

Early this month, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a press release regarding a complaint issued by the Board?s Hartford regional office against a company that terminated an employee who ?posted negative remarks about her supervisor on her Facebook page.? The NLRB contends that, among other things, the company?s Internet use policy contained provisions prohibiting employees from engaging in protected concerted activity?a violation of Sections 7 and 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). In the complaint, the NLRB states that blanket prohibitions on employees voicing dissatisfaction or posting disparaging remarks about their employers are overly broad and a violation of the NLRA. However, this complaint is even more interesting due to the fact that it appears to be in direct opposition to an Advice Memo filed by the NLRB in 2009, where the Board found that a Social Media Policy issued by an employer was specifically not in violation of Sections 7 and 8(a)(1). The policies in question are strikingly similar, so the apparent 180-degree turn by the NLRB may be a sign of a significant ideological shift in the Board. If upheld, this complaint has implications for companies attempting to protect themselves from employees? use of blogging and social media sites through Internet use policies. How companies should react to the NLRB complaint likely will not be clear until the complaint is heard in January of 2011, but for companies falling under the NLRA, a full internal review of Internet use and related policies should be planned.

Full post as published by Business and Technology Law on November 29, 2010 (boomark / email).