Crafting a Social-Media Policy You Can “Like”

Abstract

As social media changes and develops, so must employers’ responses to it. Each new platform provides unique ways for users to communicate with one another and the outside world. However, employees may also use social media to communicate negative statements about their jobs, leaving employers to strike a difficult balance between an employee ’ s right to free speech and the potential for damage to the business. Employers attempting to protect their interests from employee socialmedia activity through employer policies must be mindful of employee protections enforced by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and afforded under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. Recent decisions by the NLRB concerning appropriate social-media policies have left many employers unsure of how to draft or implement workplace social-media policies that are both lawful and effective. This Q&A addresses recent developments in the law concerning social-media policies, discusses possible actions that employers can take to improve those policies, and cautions against including social-media-policy provisions that might run afoul of Section 7.