Should an employee be fired because of social media rants?
Some business experts feel that employees that sound off should be fired
because they don’t uphold the character and face of company. The National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) has heard these types of cases since 2010 and began
issuing decisions in 2012. The NLRB usually sides with the employee, reasoning that
the employee’s social media postings are protected activities under the National
Labor Relations Act, specifically-Employee rights to organize and speak out
against unfair labor conditions.
If the rants take place on company time, using company
resources, the employee could be disciplined for infractions other than the
actual posting. But when the postings occur outside of work, the line has been
drawn between employee rights and violating policy.
Beyond firing someone for something you don’t like on social
media is the policy prohibiting the rant. If the company doesn’t have a policy
then little action can be taken. Many businesses, especially small business,
have no policy regarding social media. Employee handbooks and company policy need
to be living documents. It seems
like there is always a new topic to be covered. Social media policy is an extension
of that organism. Although social media and employees going off on their
employers are not new, the policies governing how businesses handle it are
still evolving. And the NLRB helps draft those policies each time it offers a
decision. Businesses have to stay abreast of the issues and the decisions being
made.
Defending the honor of the company or getting rid of a bad
employee, firing someone for his or her rants on social media can be a dicey situation.
Opening up the company as well as the person responsible for the firing to
court action.
See our blog archive for other posts relating to social
media policy issues:
No comments:
Post a Comment