Social Media, NLRA, Protected Concerted Activity

10 social media tips for employers and employees

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP on 6/28/2024

Want to stay out of trouble? Read on! Did you know that this Sunday will be "Social Media Day"? Neither did I. But even after all this time, social media continues to get employees and employers in trouble. Here are six...more

EntertainHR: Michigan’s Miscue—Is Your Company Ready for a Social Media Scandal?

FordHarrison on 6/7/2023

Only a few days after being hired by the University of Michigan’s football program as the assistant director of football recruiting, Glenn Schembechler (son of longtime Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler) resigned after his...more

NLRB Provides Employees Extra Leeway to Use Offensive Language

Husch Blackwell LLP on 5/5/2023

On May 1, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued its decision in Lion Elastomers and United Steelworkers, making it more difficult for employers to discipline employees for outbursts and similar misconduct...more

Nasty language may be protected concerted activity, court says

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP on 8/12/2022

Non-union employers, this goes for you, too! An employee's use of bad language doesn't necessarily mean that the employer can take action against him. Even if the language arguably violates the employer's no-harassment...more

The End of an Era? NLRB Holds Lawful Employer’s Rules Restricting Employee Communications on Social Media, But This Pro-Employer...

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 1/13/2021

Seyfarth Synopsis: Last week, the NLRB held in a 2-1 decision that an employer’s rules restricting certain types of employee communications on social media were lawful under the NLRA. However, the Board panel was sharply...more

NLRB: Employer Tweet Unlawfully Restrained Protected Activity

Proskauer - Labor Relations Update on 11/30/2020

On November 24, 2020, the Board held that a high-level executive’s tweet violated Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA by interfering with or restraining employees’ protected, concerted activity....more

Top Five Labor Law Developments for August 2020

Jackson Lewis P.C. on 9/21/2020

1. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) upheld an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) ruling directing an unfair labor practice trial to be conducted by videoconference because of the COVID-19 pandemic. William Beaumont...more

Social Media PSA For Employees And Employers

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP on 6/26/2020

Only YOU can prevent a social media firestorm. My Facebook page is a snooze. Two members of my immediate family do not want their existence to be acknowledged on the internet. I almost never post anything, except to wish...more

Threatening Employees on Social Media is No LOL Matter

Jaburg Wilk on 6/25/2020

Sometimes jokes fall flat. Sometimes they can get employers in trouble with the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB”). A recent case is a cautionary tale. What Happened? In responding to a story about workers for...more

Employment Law Now IV-65- The Great Debate Part 2: Employee Lawyer vs. Employer Lawyer

Cozen O'Connor on 4/17/2020

This is Part 2 of Mike Schmidt's 2-part episode pitting employee/plaintiff-side lawyer Hope Pordy, Esq. against employer/defendant-side lawyer Jeremy Glenn, Esq. to finish debating some interesting HR topics....more

How the Misconception of ‘Free Speech’ in the Workplace Persists through High-Profile Examples of Social Consciousness

FordHarrison on 10/30/2019

With the NBA season set to begin this month, so many eagerly anticipated storylines are being discussed. Would the Clippers and Lakers live up to expectations and make Los Angeles the place to be this season? How are teams...more

Can Employers get a Grip on Griping? Not all Gripes are Created Equal…

Cohen & Gresser LLP on 9/25/2019

Negative employee attitudes, chronic complaining, insubordination and gossiping are bad for the workplace. They can impact employee morale and productivity, and if spread outside of the organization, reflect very poorly on...more

Social Media Compliance & Responding to an Employee’s Disparaging Post

NAVEX on 7/26/2019

The social media revolution has changed the modern workplace in ways that could not possibly have been foreseen when the bulk of our federal labor and employment laws were debated and enacted. Don‘t forget, Facebook didn’t...more

To Post or Not to Post: NLRB, Social Media & the Workplace

Baker Donelson on 5/22/2019

At the core of federal labor law is an employee's right to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of mutual aid and protection, even if it is not a union shop. ...more

Facebooking Misappropriated Employer Form Is Not Protected Activity

Sherman & Howard L.L.C. on 7/18/2018

On June 11, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board (Board) Division of Advice applied the Board’s new Boeing standard for assessing employer policies. The Division advised that an employer did not violate the NLRA when it...more

Social Media in the Workplace: More Changes Ahead?

McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC on 12/12/2017

In days past employees discussed and debated workplace issues around the water cooler. That sentimental past-time has long since been replaced by online social media networking and the reach of social media is stunning....more

Termination For Social Media Activity May Result In Unemployment Compensation Benefits

Troutman Pepper on 12/4/2017

Q. Our Company just terminated an employee for a social media post that was in violation of our social media policy. Will she be entitled to unemployment compensation benefits? ...more

Q And A On The Recent Controversy

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP on 8/11/2017

On the recent uproar involving a major, major employer and its recently-terminated employee: No. 1. Is it a good idea to provide an “open forum” to employees if there are certain topics that are off limits? No. If you want...more

Digital Disruptions: Handling Social Media Misuse By Students And Educators

Fisher Phillips on 7/15/2017

Beginning with the launch of Myspace and Facebook in the early part of the last decade, social media communication has taken the world by storm. Today, social media networking is the primary means of communicating about one’s...more

Second Circuit Identifies Outer Limits of NLRA-Protected Speech

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and... on 5/16/2017

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) generally prohibits employers from retaliating against employees based on their union-related activities or for taking concerted action to improve the terms and conditions of their...more

Employer Cannot Fire Employees For Obscenity-Laced Facebook Posts During Union Organizing Campaign

Tonkon Torp LLP on 5/16/2017

Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act protects employees who engage in concerted activities for purposes of collective bargaining or for mutual aid and protection. How far that protection extends was tested in NLRB v....more

Oh F**k: Employee’s Profane Facebook Post is Protected Activity

Orrick - Employment Law and Litigation on 5/5/2017

On April 21, 2017, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) ruling that an employer violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act) when it discharged a catering...more

Second Circuit Holds NLRB Did Not Err in its Finding that Facebook Posting that Supervisor is a “Nasty Mother Fer” and “F...

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 5/1/2017

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Second Circuit agrees with the Board that the use of profanity in a Facebook post was not “opprobrious enough” to lose the NLRA’s protections and justify the employer’s termination of the employee....more

Now You, Too, Can Call Your Boss a Nasty Motherf****r

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP on 4/27/2017

Maybe we’ve all thought it at some point in our careers. But according to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, you might actually be able to get away with saying it—that is, calling your boss a nasty mother****r—if you’re...more

“Do You Kiss Your Mother With That Post?” Second Circuit Rules on Foul Facebook Post about Employer

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 4/27/2017

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals stepped in to support the NLRB’s finding that an employee’s profanity-ridden social media posting about his employer (and his employer’s mother) was not so offensive that it went beyond the...more

Social Media › The National Labor Relations Act › Protected Concerted Activity

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