Q. What are the implications for employers of the recent American Medical Response/Facebook matter?

by Robert C. White Jr. on February 23, 2011

The recent settlement between American Medical Response of New Jersey, Inc. (“AMR”) and the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) provided some guidance on the status of employees’ postings on Facebook and other social media outlets. This matter originated when an AMR employee made derogatory postings on Facebook about her employer. The employee apparently called her supervisor a “scumbag” and compared some members of the company’s management to psychiatric patients. She did this from her home on her own individual Facebook account. The company discovered these posts and terminated the employee based on a policy that prohibited employees from making derogatory comments or posting comments about the company online without prior permission.

The NLRB claimed that AMR’s policy was overbroad. The basis for this determination was apparently that this policy could prohibit employees from discussing working conditions with other employees. The NLRB also claimed that AMR’s termination of the employee was illegal because she was only complaining about general employment conditions.

AMR agreed to settle with the NLRB in this matter. As part of this settlement, AMR agreed to revise its social media policy to allow employees to discuss working conditions and other related items outside of work and to not discipline or terminate an employee for participating in these discussions.

What can employers gain from this matter? While this matter does provide some guidance, employers should not interpret it too broadly and should avoid making major decisions based directly on this matter. Each situation is different, and employers should carefully evaluate the facts and circumstances of each situation independently before making any decisions or taking any action. The laws that impact social media are constantly evolving and are likely to continue to be somewhat uncertain for some time. Employers should carefully examine their specific social media and other online policies and situations and get assistance and advice from qualified experts before a problem arises.

For more information contact the author, Robert C. White, Jr., here.