NLRB Positions on Regulating Employees' Social Media Usage

Summary

This practice note explains the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) recent decisions involving social media to enable you to better counsel employers on how to lawfully regulate and respond to employees' use (or misuse) of social media. The same principles are also useful in counseling employers on how to respond to employees' statements in other workplace contexts, such as video meetings, as well. Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) confers upon employees the right to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. 29 U.S.C. § 157. Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA makes it an unfair labor practice for employers to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7. 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1).