Employment Laws
Topic 1;
- What has NLRB said on the subject?
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been at the forefront in protecting employees since 1963 from unethical employment termination, poor payment, and working conditions. The Board has protected all employees regardless of whether they are in any union or not and fight to improve every employees’ salary and working condition and prevent their employers from terminating their employment contract illegally. However, in the case when an employee is disparaging his or her employer and the working conditions by posting videos on YouTube and Facebook, Section 7 of NLRB stated that employees have the right to engage in concerted group activity and communication with their colleagues at to improve the work condition. Thus the act of posting the video on YouTube is an act of concerted group activity. Therefore if an employee employment contract is terminated because of engaging in a concerted group activity, the National Labor Relations Board will ensure that the employee is reinstated (National Labor Relations Board, n.d.). The Board concluded with stating that firing employees due to engagement of protected concerted groups limit the employees from engaging in concerted group activities.
- What does specific state law say on the issue?
The U.S Constitution’s First Amendment right states that freedom of speech only applies to issues that and interaction with the government, and employers can terminate an employee’s contract on things that they have said without being concerned that they are violating the employee’s civil rights. However, if the issue being addressed is of concern to employees’ welfare, then the employer is not allowed to terminate the employer’s contract since the speech of the employee is protected under section 7 and 8 of the National Labor Relations Board as “concerted activity” (Spiggle, 2018).
- Is the Dawnmarie Souza’s case relevant to this set of facts? If so, in what ways?
Yes, Dawnmarie Souza’s Case is relevant to this case. This is because, in Souza’s case, the employer argued that Souza was not in concerted activity with the other employees; thus, his employment termination was legal since his act contradicted the “protected concerted activity.” The case is relevant to this set of fact because a “concerted activity” does not require physical appearance since the engagement can be done via video post, zoom, messages, and other social media platforms.
- Based on NLRB, specific state law and Dawnmarie case, can your boss fire the employee, and if so, on what grounds and why or why not?
Based on the NLRB, specific state, and Dawnmarie case, the employer cannot terminate the employee’s employment contract. This is because the employee who posted the video was in a “protected concerted activity” with other employees as he was trying to create awareness on the work condition and performance evaluation and trigger for an improvement. However, if the employers fire the employee, NLRB will ensure that the employee is rehired, and the employer faces legal actions for unlawful employment termination.
Topic 2;
- What advice would you provide the CEO of the company? Consider in your advice should the CEO respond or not to the blog? Why or why not? And if so, what should the blog say?
I would advise the CEO that it is a good idea to blog about the company but not blogging about an employee. If he wants to blog about employees, let it be on performance, productivity, and on areas that will develop their career. However, I can advise the CEO it will be better off if he turns the blog to a marketing blog where you market the company’s product and service blog about leadership, inventory management, and other business-related topics.
- What action, if any, should our CEO take against the blogger?
I think the best action is to talk with the blogger to identify his issue and try to come up with a solution.
- What specific actions should the company take to protect its brand?
- The company can communicate clear rules to employees explaining the minimum requirement of using social media on behalf of the company or using their accounts in answering customer-controlled conversation on behalf of the company.
- Develop a social media policy that covers many aspects of using the company’s social media platform. This includes the posting of content on the site.
- Training of employees on how to handle and maintain the company’s social media account so as to protect the company’s brand.
- Hiring a professional to be in charge sometimes helps the company in protecting its reputation (MARCARIA.Com, n.d.). Failure to hire social media experts sometimes leads to issues that jeopardize the company’s reputation.
- Pick a specific state law, and is it applicable and is so why and if not, why not?
A bill that was filed by Helen Giddings, the Democratic Texas State Representative, to limit Texas employers from asking for social media passwords from their employees and new applicants. Several states have implemented a bill that prevented employers from requesting for their employers and new applicant passwords so as to crosscheck their profile and keep their job (National Conference of State Legislature, 2019). The laws have also been implanted in learning institutions since requesting social media passwords from employees is an illegal act. The act limits employees’ privacy and is considered illegal. However, this bill did not limit employers from ensuring that there are lawful guidelines that govern employee social media usage at the workplace, monitoring of employees’ social media usage at work, and reference check employees’ social media platforms for positions that require candidates who are capable of influencing large groups.
References
MARCARIA.Com. (n.d.). Blogpost: 13 ways to protect your brand on social media. International Domain & Trademark Registration. https://www.marcaria.com/ws/en/articles/blogpost-13-ways-to-protect-your-brand-on-social-media
National Conference of State Legislatures. (2019, May 22). State social media privacy laws. Legislative News, Studies, and Analysis | National Conference of State Legislatures. https://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/state-laws-prohibiting-access-to-social-media-usernames-and-passwords.aspx
National Labor Relations Board. (n.d.). Protected concerted activity. https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/our-enforcement-activity/protected-concerted-activity
Spiggle, T. (2018, October 4). Your free speech rights (Mostly) don’t apply at work. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomspiggle/2018/09/28/free-speech-work-rights/#3884e7938c87