Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals
June 20, 2012 

The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) acting general counsel has issued an operations management memo regarding the legality of language contained in employers’ social media policies.   

The seven cases discussed in the operations management memo provide further guidance to employers struggling with developing and enforcing policies regulating employee social media activity. The memo also includes a sample policy the NLRB considers adhering to the law.  

Provisions are found to be unlawful when they interfere with the rights of employees under the National Labor Relations Act, such as the right to discuss wages and working conditions with co-workers, the NLRB says.  

This is the third such guidance issued by the NLRB. The previous two—issued in January 2012 and in August 2011—involved discharges based on Facebook posts.  

Access the most recent NLRB memo by going to http://mynlrb.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d4580a375cd. The NLRB’s two previous memos are available at http://mynlrb.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d45807d6567 and in http://mynlrb.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d458056e743.