Facebook Case Provides No Guidance

Some legal experts are disappointed that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reached a settlement with a company that fired an employee for posting negative remarks about her supervisor on Facebook. The case was scheduled to be heard before a federal labor board judge the day following the settlement. Attorneys had hoped for a legal precedent to guide employers’ social media policies.

In the settlement, the company agreed to “revise its overly broad rules” to ensure that employees’ rights to discuss working conditions are protected, according to NLRB. The employee was fired for violating a policy that prohibits employees from depicting the company “in any way” on social media sites on which they post a picture of themselves, a policy that the board asserted was too broad. This was the first NLRB complaint involving an employee terminated for comments made on a social media site. ◆