The Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a third report in its series on social media cases brought to the agency. The report, issued on May 30, 2012, covers seven cases involving employers’ social media policies governing the use of social media by employees. The NLRB found some of the policies to be unlawful, and cautioned that it believes
many common clauses in employers’ social media policies violate Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act because they improperly restrict employees’ rights such as the right to discuss wages and working conditions with co-workers. Some of the clauses deemed unlawful by the NLRB are found in many employee handbooks, and the NLRB’s disapproval of them is likely to be challenged in the courts. The report, however, attempts to provide some positive guidance by attaching in full one policy that the NLRB deems lawful in its entirety.
The report and the approved policy can be accessed on the NLRB’s website at report.
