Officials of the National Labor Relations Board recently weighed in on the legal risks employers bear under the National Labor Relations Act when monitoring employee/applicant use of social media.
During a panel discussion in Pennsylvania [as reported in Law360 (November 12, 2014)], Board Member Harry Johnson and NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin confirmed what may…
An employer violated the National Labor Relations Act by discharging two employees because of their participation in a Facebook discussion about their employer’s State income tax withholding mistakes, by threatening employees with discharge for their Facebook activity, by questioning employees about that activity, and by informing employees they were being discharged because of their Facebook…
An employee’s selection of the “Like” option under a former employee’s initial Facebook status update was “an expression of approval” of the initial status update it followed (and therefore part of concerted activity), but not of the entire topic of which the update was part as it existed at the time. Therefore, the NLRB determined,…
In a flurry of activity coinciding with the end of the term of National Labor Relations Board Member Brian Hayes (whose term ended on December 16), the NLRB has issued significant decisions relating to concerted activity conducted on social media, a newly unionized employer’s ability to discipline employees, and an employer’s obligation to continue dues…
The NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe E. Solomon has issued a Memorandum (OM 11-74) to Board regional officials, dated August 18, 2011, describing his Office’s actions involving social media cases in the past year. Solomon explains: "Recent developments in the Office of the General Counsel have presented emerging issues concerning the protected and/or concerted nature…
The National Labor Relations Board’s prosecutor, its General Counsel, continues to show an avid interest in social media as a medium for complaints against employers. (The Board itself is an active participant in social media, with a Facebook page, a YouTube channel and a Twitter feed.)
On April 12, 2011, the NLRB General Counsel instructed…
