On September 6, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (Board) announced that a Board Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) had issued the first decision involving employee social media use. We previously reported that the Board has been very active in this area, issuing complaints and guidance, but this is the first actual decision from a Board ALJ. In the decision, Hispanics United of Buffalo (PDF), the ALJ ruled that the non-profit employer unlawfully discharged five employees after the employees posted comments on Facebook.

The ALJ first found that the small non-profit organization (which after the terminations at issue had only 25 employees) was covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), even though the organization operated only in the Buffalo, New York area. The ALJ went on to hold that the employees' Facebook comments amounted to concerted protected activity under the NLRA, and as such, their comments were shielded from discipline. The ALJ concluded that the terminations were therefore unlawful, and ordered the employees reinstated with back pay.

The facts are as follows:

An employee of Hispanics United of Buffalo, Inc. (HUB), who we will call the “Targeted Employee,” was repeatedly critical of her coworkers, because she believed that the coworkers did not provide adequate services to HUB’s clients. In October 2010, one of the criticized employees complained about the Targeted Employee on Facebook, and several of her coworkers commented on the post, which used the Targeted Employee’s name. Different people will likely have different views of the Facebook posts, but there is no dispute that the comments included vulgar language, sarcasm, and in my opinion, inappropriate comments that were critical of HUB’s clients.