Takeaways

  • Companies that don’t have a social media policy are tempting fate.
  • “Ready, fire, aim” should not be your first reaction to online criticism from an employee. Stop, take a breath, and realize that terminating the employee may come back to bite you.
  • If the online statement is directed at, or even accessible to, the employee’s co-workers, and it pertains at all to the employee’s superiors or conditions of employment, it may very well be something that the NLRB considers federally protected “concerted activity.”
  • Instead of punishing the employee, consider working with them to resolve the problem they’re complaining about.
  • Realize that a lot of the conversation happening online now is the same thing that used to happen around the water cooler. It may be more accessible now, but the same type of criticism has probably already been made offline. Negative opinions are inevitable, and sometimes the best response is simply to laugh them off.
  • Always consult your legal counsel before making a decision that could potentially expose you to liability.
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