The NLRB Wades Into Online Workplace Chatter ? Slowly

What can you – and can’t you – say about your employer online? Well, if you’re not sure, join the crowd. Workers are being disciplined over online comments, and have begun to take unfair disciplinary action to the federal National Labor Relations Board – which is feeling its way toward a coherent policy.

According to a recent article, “The problem for employers and workers is that the guidelines being issued by the NLRB are slowly evolving case by case, making it tricky to ensure compliance with the law now being applied to what some labor experts call the virtual office water cooler.”

A few online principles are decided: you can’t be fired for discussing wages and working conditions with co-workers, but you can be disciplined for griping “solely by and on behalf of oneself, with no evidence of intended or actual group action to improve working conditions.”

But a few common online speech issues remain unresolved. For instance, while mere name-calling is generally protected, under what circumstances is it actionable? And, most importantly, what should an ideal workplace social-media policy look like?” That could take some time, because, as the article noted, “The NLRB's acting general counsel has yet to see one that can be cited.”

Read the whole list of decided and unresolved issues here.

What Workers Can—and Can't—Do on Facebook (Wall St. Journal, Dec. 2, 2011)