Can You Fire For Facebook?

Earlier this week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) settled a case involving an employee who was terminated after posting derogatory comments about the company on Facebook.  It’s probably not nice to admit this, but I’m a little disappointed this case settled (although I figured it would).   This interesting case involved an employee who took to Facebook to post extremely negative comments about her supervisor during a company investigation about her work performance. 

After the investigation, she was fired.  The company claimed she was fired for a long history of poor behavior which resulted in multiple complaints, not because of her Facebook comments.   Makes sense.  Not so fast. First, the NLRB said the company’s policies pertaining to the use of social media were “too vague.”  Next, it claimed that her posts should be considered protected activity and that her firing was unlawful.  It claimed that when the employee took to her Facebook to criticize her supervisor which resulted in her fellow co-workers commenting on her post it was considered protected activity under the NLRA. 

That’s a new twist.  And that’s the twist I wanted to know about.  Unfortunately, this issue was not resolved in the settlement.   

In the settlement, the Company agreed to revise its policies pertaining to the use of social media so that it does not improperly restrict discussions on wages, hours or working conditions.  The company also agreed it will not discipline employees for engaging in such discussions.   It did not agree to an “anything goes” policy and may still have restrictions on appropriate time, place and topic. 

This is a good compromise.  It doesn’t say that you can’t fire someone over a Facebook comment, it simply says have a well drafted policy on appropriate use of social media and think twice before your discipline or discharge someone over these types of comments.  In English – be smart and get guidance.

Jenna

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