The National Labor Relations Act gives employees the right to “engage in … concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” The rise of social networking is now asking a new question: should employees be allowed to criticize their boss on Facebook? The matter is complicated by the fact that many companies have social media policies that forbid online discussion of work-related matters. Should these policies be considered illegal restrictions on a worker’s right to organize?
As reported in the New York Times, the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint that, for the first time, takes the position that an employee’s use of Facebook can be a protected concerted activity. The complaint also took issue with “an overly broad blogging and Internet posting policy.”
The NLRB’s complaint was issued against American Medical Response of Connecticut for firing Dawnmarie Souza. Ms. Souza, a unionized employee, was given the task of writing a response to a client’s complaint of her work. Ms. Souza requested union help in preparing the response. When her supervisor denied the request, she responded by speaking her mind on Facebook. Importantly, other employees read the online postings. Ms. Souza was later fired.
The NLRB’s acting general counsel, Lafe Solomon, characterized the controversy as “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.”
American Medical Response said in a statement, “Although the NLRB’s press release made it sound as if the employee was discharged solely due to negative comments posted on Facebook, the termination decision was actually based on multiple, serious issues.”
An administrative hearing is scheduled for January 25, 2011.