First: Do not call in sick and then post photos on Facebook of you on your Harley outside a tavern when you were supposedly in bed with a fever.
Second: Read this piece of advice from Joint Council 7's newsletter. It's about social networking from our friends at Beeson, Tayer & Bodine.
But, I only told my friends. . . Facebook, Twitter and the law
Many employees use Facebook and other social media platforms to discuss issues related to their job with co-workers and others. Social media platforms are a powerful medium for sharing information and communicating quickly to a large and wide-spread group of people.
But employers may, in certain circumstances,discipline employees for their use of social media. For these reasons, workers must know and understand workers’ rights related to the use of social media.
Can an employer discipline an employee whose posts are critical of the employer or its supervisors?
The key question in discipline cases related to Facebook and other social media postings is whether the employee’s post is “concerted activity,” which is protected by federal labor law.
“Concerted activity” means group action, but an individual can engage in “concerted activity” if the activity concerns working conditions and is taken with, or on behalf of, other employees, and not solely on behalf of the individual employee, or to initiate group activity or complaints.
Mere individual griping is not concerted. And even concerted activity may be unprotected if it is “disloyal” to, or contains untrue information about, the employer. In one case, an NLRB Judge overturned discipline against an employee who posted that his supervisor as a “dick” because the posts were related to workplace complaints discussed among employees. However, a post that said “Wuck Falmart” was deemed “mere individual griping” and thus not protected as concerted activity because there was no connection to a group effort to change working conditions.
It is not always easy to predict how a Judge will evaluate a case,but you can help protect yourself by ensuring that social media posts critical of your employer are:
1. Related to a workplace dispute;
2. Part of group activity to address that workplace
dispute; and
3. Truthful and temperate in tone so as not to lose
protection.
Can an employer policy prohibit the discussion of work-related issues on the internet?
Employers are scared of social media precisely because they are such a powerful means of communication and organizing between co-workers. For this reason,many employers have adopted broad policies restricting employee discussion of their work on social media. These policies are increasingly the subject of NLRB scrutiny.
A social media policy is unlawful if it would reasonably tend to chill employees’ exercise of their right to discuss wages, hours and working conditions. A rule is unlawful if it explicitly restricts this type of activity, but also if it can be reasonably construed to restrict such activity. The NLRB has found unlawful rules prohibiting employees from identifying themselves as an employee of the employer, rules that require employees to maintain a “positive attitude” and to refrain from disparaging co-workers or the Employer, and rules that discourage employees from “friending” co-workers.
The law in this area is complicated and evolving. Before you make social media postings critical of your employer, it is good idea to contact your Business Agent for advice.
