“The National Labor Relations Act protects the rights
of employees to act together to address conditions at work, with or without a
union. This protection extends to certain work-related conversations conducted
on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.
In 2010, the National Labor Relations Board, an
independent federal agency that enforces the Act, began receiving charges in
its regional offices related to employer social media policies and to specific
instances of discipline for Facebook postings. Following investigations, the
agency found reasonable cause to believe that some policies and disciplinary
actions violated federal labor law, and the NLRB Office of General Counsel
issued complaints against employers alleging unlawful conduct. In other cases,
investigations found that the communications were not protected and so
disciplinary actions did not violate the Act.” (NLRB Employers, 2012)
We’ve all seen or heard of some workplace social-media
related terminations. In today’s fast-paced digital world it is almost
impossible not to use or look at social media during the normal eight hour work
day. This week’s readings provided us with some of the laws and regulations
regarding social media in the workplace, in addition to some suggestions and rules
of thumb to follow regarding social media privacy and security.
Please answer the following questions based on the
week six readings:
1. What
are your thoughts about social media use in the workplace if it is not a
required part of the job? Should it be permitted?
2. Is
termination of employment a reasonable punishment for posts made on an
employee’s private social media page(s) regarding an employer or fellow
employee? Why or why not?
3. Which
social media safety/privacy tip(s), if any, really resonated with you and/or
opened your eyes to a potential privacy threat that you were unaware of prior
to this week’s readings?
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