Fired worker is the winner in Facebook posting case
February 8, 2011 by Tim GouldPosted in: Communication, Complaint investigation, Employment law, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Management, policies, Supervisors, Terminations
The National Labor Relations Board has officially stuck its nose in your ability to set computer and social network use policies.
A settlement has been reached in a case involving the discharge of a Connecticut ambulance service employee for posting negative comments about her supervisor on her Facebook page.
The NLRB complaint against American Medical Response of Connecticut said the company violated federal labor law when it fired Dawnmarie Souza after she posted the remarks.
The board said the company maintained overly-broad rules in its employee handbook regarding blogging, Internet posting, and communications between employees. It also said the employer had illegally denied union representation to the Souza during the investigation of a customer complaint.
Company agrees to policy changes
Under the settlement, the company agreed to revise its computer-use rules to ensure employees wouldn’t be restricted from discussing their wages, hours and working conditions with co-workers.
The company also promised that employee requests for union representation will not be denied in the future.
The allegations involving the employee’s discharge were resolved through a separate, private agreement between the employee and the company, according to an NLRB press release.
The case was the first instance of the NLRB formally alleging an employer violated federal law by disciplining a worker who posted critical comments on social-network sites.
We’re betting it’s not the last.
Tags: American Medical Response, computer use policies, Dawnmarie Souza, Facebook, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB, social networks
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February 22nd, 2011 at 2:15 pm
People need to realize that posting negative comments about their employer (coworker, etc) on a social networking site is the same as bad mouthing your employer at the grocery store. The only difference is that the internet posting can be saved, printed, and disseminated to more locations in the blink of an eye.
People need tact online just like in real life. Employers shouldn’t have to deal with slander just because it is Facebook.
February 22nd, 2011 at 2:43 pm
It is not the fact that a negative comment was posted on Facebook that helped them loose the case.
It was how they handled the situation afterwards that helped them loose the case.
When you use the term slander, you need to make sure that you are using it correctly. From what the article says….. She mentioned something about the age of the the new supervisor being only 17.
This is not slander if that person was in fact 17 when they were hired/promoted into the position.
What made them lose the case was the fact that denied her representation from her union rep {It also said the employer had illegally denied union representation to Souza during the investigation of a customer complaint.}
You have the right to express your feelings about someone/thing. That is apart of “FREE SPEECH” moreso if it is true. Being on Facebook or at the grocery store makes no difference. People talk. They have in the past and will continue to do so in the future. This website is a perfect example of people coming together to talk and express their opinions about topics.
Hopefully in my lifetime this right will not go away.
February 23rd, 2011 at 1:27 am
Annie – you are absolutely correct. The company didn’t handle it well and made some other bad decisions here. I would also be interested in seeing their social networking policy.
I guess I should have been a little more specific in my comment – it was meant more generally than this specific case. Someone sharing confidential company information or saying things that could damage the company’s reputation are definately things that the company would have to address – free speech or not.
Facebook is an interesting phenomena. As a social worker, I had to remind my clients that some employers might not want to hire someone with half naked Mardi Gras pictures on facebook or that if an employer saw a picture of an employee using a bong at a party they might be facing a drug test (depending on company policy). There have been too many stories of people doing something dumb on Facebook and then ending up without a job to ignore the importance of using tact.
Just because there is a venue for venting doesn’t mean that it’s wise to blab whatever comes to mind. Social networking sites bring on a great deal of creativity, stress relief, and individuality. Free speech is a cornerstone of our society, but unfortunately for employers, many times social networking sites also create a fine line of expression being free speech or slander – made a bigger issue by the distance the information can travel. If I were talking to you in the grocery store, our conversation probably wouldn’t make it across the state – on Facebook it would. I think it’s important for people to practice some discresion when dealing with employment issues on social networking sites.
March 21st, 2011 at 7:55 am
I think that we forget that freedom of speech does have its limits also. You still can’t defame someone, or slander someone or threaten someone, and such. I am constantly reminding my associates about responsible posting. Griping to a co worker or a friend about your job face to face is one thing but once you vent online you changed from having a 2 peron conversation to maybe a 2 billion person conversation. With any freedom comes responsibility to properly use it.