NLRB Clarifies Limits On Employee Social Media Speech

The National Labor Relations Act protects the right of employees to organize and engage in other activities “for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” Most employers now understand those activities may include comments and conversations on social media. But the NLRB has also recognized that an employer has a right “to protect its business concerns and orderly operations,” write Nixon Peabody attorneys Steven M. Richard, Todd R. Shinaman and Joseph A. Carello, and they look at a recent decision by the NLRB that clarifies how it will balance these two imperatives. Employers, they write, will face a high bar when they try to make the case that employee social media comments are so disloyal, reckless, or maliciously untrue that they are not protected by the Act.