The rise of social media, and the ease with which people may communicate over such channels, can lead to thorny workplace issues as employers now struggle to define rules that restrict the use of social media by their employees.

One area of concern when drafting such policies is the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects the right of employees to organize and join unions in the workplace, seek collective bargaining, and engage in other concerted activities.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has offered opinions in numerous cases involving social media policies, primarily whether social media policies that restrict employee posting or communication via such channels are overly broad and violate an employee’s right to engage in concerted action under the NLRA.http://bit.ly/OEay0s