Emily's article, "I Thought We Were Friends!" Can Nonprofits Terminate Employees for Their Social Media Posts? was published in the current issue of The Nonprofit Quarterly. Here are some excerpts:
- Terminations due to actions on social media sites, commonly referred to as “Facebook firings,” have been gaining widespread attention over the past year, including from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency charged with enforcing the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
- Section 7 of the NLRA is the provision generally implicated by Facebook firing cases, and states, in relevant part: Employees shall have the right to self-organization ... and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of ,,, mutual aid or protection ....
- Nonprofit leaders are typically unaware that the NLRA applies to their organization.
- Starting next year, the NLRB will require employers to post a copy of a notice advising employees of their NLRA rights and provide information pertaining to the enforcement of those rights. This new requirement may also be a sign that the NLRB will be increasingly unsympathetic to employer policies that fail to reference NLRA rights or provide a Section 7 disclaimer.
