When Can Workers Be Fired For Facebook Posts And Tweets?
Amy McClenathan apparently was having a bad day when she posted on Facebook, around the one-year anniversary of her mom's death, that some days she wished she would be fired so she could just stay at home.
The next day she got her wish; the title company for which she worked fired her. Unfortunately.
McClenathan is hardly alone and, especially concerning government and union workers, who may have greater protections against employer infringement on their personal social media use, whether such firings are appropriate is being addressed in administrative hearings and even in court.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued rulings on a number of social media policies in recent months, providing guidance that may be helpful to other employers who are not directly subject to its purview. (However, their authority was cast in doubt by a federal appeals court decision that three appointments to the five-member board were invalid.)
One potential pitfall for companies is worker criticism of employers on social media posts. Former Arizona Daily Star reporter Brian Pedersen, as the KTVK article notes, lost his job with the newspaper in 2010, after working there over a decade, because he posted some sarcastic Tweets about a Tucson homicide wave. Among them: “You stay homicidal, Tucson. See Star Net for the bloody deets.”
The NLRB said the newspaper was within its rights to do so. However, the NLRB often views critical postings as equivalent to worker venting around the water cooler, which union workers have a right to do.
An October article published by the New York Law Journal discusses and links to general counsel legal memos discussing employer restrictions on social media use.
Related ABA Journal articles:
ABAJournal.com: "Car Salesman Loses NLRB Case Against Dealership That Fired Him over Facebook Post"
ABAJournal.com: "Union Asks NLRB to Determine If Grocery Chain’s Policy on Social Media Use Violates Workers’ Rights"
Forbes (contributor blog post): "NLRB Slams Costco On Social Media Use Policy: What It Means For Your Business"
Renowned and respected for his extensive trial experiences and legal counselling of thousands of individual and organizational clients, Attorney Charles Ware is also noted for being a prolific author of several best-selling books, numerous information blogs, and hundreds of articles.
Ware is a widely acclaimed expert legal commentator who, for eight years in the 1990s hosted the extremely popular legal advice radio program "The Lawyer's Mailbox": the Number One (#1) legal advice radio program in the Mid-Atlantic States, on WEAA-88.9 FM, Morgan State University Radio in Baltimore, Maryland.
Among attorney and author Charles Jerome Ware's best-selling books are:
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Ware's blogs and twitter include, inter alia:
[www.bloomberg.com/news/01-29-2013/ "Workers Griping By Facebook May Lose Jobs After Ruling"; www.abajournal.com/news/article/ "Worker Says On Facebook She Wants To Be Fired"; www.azfamily.com/news/ "Tempted To Vent About Work Online? You Could Get Fired"; www.nytimes.com/2013-01-22/The New York Times/ "Even If It Enrages Your Boss, Social Net Speech Is Protected"; www.newyorklawjournal.com/PubArticleNY/ "NLRB Memos Offer Cautionary Guidance On Social Media"/ October 22, 2013; www.tucsonweekly.com/Tuesday, January 22, 2013/ "Tucson Weekly Contributor Brian Pedersen..."]
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