Over the past few years, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) has taken an active role in attempting to shape (i) employer social media policies and (ii) employer use of social media in making employment related decisions.
This trend is likely to continue. In fact, in a January 2014 interview with Law360, the Chairman of the NLRB, Mark Pearce, and Board Member, Philip A. Miscimarra, explained that the NLRB intends to continue focusing on social media cases, and even noted that the Board’s social media caseload has increased its public profile.1 Given the NLRB’s general stance on these issues, recent NLRB decisions, and the NLRB’s stated intention to continue focusing on such cases, employers must take steps to ensure that their social media policies will pass NLRB scrutiny, while still protecting themselves in situations where an employee has posted unfavorable comments about the employer on social media.
