Tag: Federal Labor Law
In Facebook Case, Fired Employee: 1, Former Employer: 0
by admin on Feb.16, 2011, under Employee Lawsuits
The recent settlement in the National Labor Relations Board’s wrongful termination complaint against American Medical Response of Connecticut heralds positive news for employee free speech on Facebook. The news is decidedly less positive for employers trying to enforce social-networking and computer-use policies.
In the complaint, the board alleged that American Medical Response violated federal labor law when it discharged a former ambulance service employee. The employee had posted negative comments about her supervisor on her own Facebook profile. The complaint alleged that American Medical Response’s employee handbook posed excessive rules regarding blogging, internet posting, and employee communications. The complaint also alleged the company had illegally withheld union representation from the employee.
As part of the settlement, the company agreed to several changes. First, it agreed to rewrite its social-networking and computer-use policies to remove the ban on employees discussing wages, hours, or working conditions with each other. Second, it agreed to grant future employee requests for union representation.
This case makes history as the board’s first complaint against an employer for firing a worker over critical Facebook comments.
