As highlighted here previously, social media policies can easily violate federal labor laws. When the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against American Medical Response (“AMR”) of Connecticut in October 2010 we were all hoping for clarity (at least from the current board). The complaint charged that AMR had illegally terminated an ambulance service employee who posted negative remarks about her supervisor on her personal Facebook page.

The employee did so after being requested by the supervisor to prepare an investigative report regarding a customer complaint about the employee’s work. The employee had then asked for and been denied representation from her union, Teamsters Local 443. Later that day, on her home computer, the employee posted the negative remarks about her supervisor on her Facebook page. The employee’s comments drew other supportive comments from co-workers and led to more negative comments about the supervisor by the employee. AMR then terminated the employee for her Facebook postings for violating the company’s Internet policies. Unfortunately for the rest of us the employer and the board recently settled the dispute, so no opinion will be issuing.