Oh, boy. I’ve been waiting for this to happen, haven’t you? See, here in America, we have a little something called the First Amendment. We can say what we want to say. Now, no, that doesn’t mean that our employers have to put up with us once we do so. But! There is already established First Amendment-related law protecting employees who vent about their bosses on their own time, or even at the water cooler, as the below article points out.
So: Let the lawsuits begin.
I say bring it on. This is one of those instances where the our First Amendment rights should prevail, so long as the plaintiff can either flip the legal bill or convince attorneys, eager to argue before the Supreme Court, to go in pro bono. Because, face it folks, lawsuits are often won by the party with the fattest wallet.
From MSNBC and the Associated Press:
A Connecticut woman who was fired after she posted disparaging remarks about her boss on Facebook has prompted a first-of-its-kind legal case by federal authorities who say her comments are protected speech under labor laws.\The National Labor Relations Board alleges that American Medical Response of Connecticut Inc. illegally fired Dawnmarie Souza from her job as an emergency medical technician late last year after she criticized her supervisor on her personal Facebook page and then traded Facebook messages about the negative comments with other employees.
The complaint, filed Oct. 27 by the board’s Hartford, Conn., regional office, could set a precedent for employers to heed as more workers use social networking sites to share details about their jobs.
“It’s the same as talking at the water cooler,” said Lafe Solomon, the board’s acting general counsel. “The point is that employees have protection under the law to talk to each other about conditions at work.”
Federal labor law has long protected employees against reprisal for talking to co-workers on their own time about their jobs and working conditions, including remarks that may be critical of managers. The law applies whether or not workers are covered by a union.
Read the rest of this article, by Sam Hananel, here.
Hey bosses: Want your employees to stop bitching about you? Stop being douche bags.
Rhiannon “Rhi” Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes snarky commentary on Creative Loafing’s CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
This article appears in Nov 9-15, 2010.
Posting derogatory statements about your boss on Facebook is not the same as talking to co-workers around the water cooler. I’m pretty sure she has way more ‘friends’ on Facebook that are non-employees than she does that are employees. But if it is going to be considered the same as talking around the water cooler, then her comments are verbal harassment and yes, she should be fired since most companies do not tolerate any kind of harassment of others. If it were the other way around and her boss acted so unprofessionally, I’d think her boss would (and should) be fired.
I really hope she wins, since the laws need to be updated to include the increasing presence of Social Media in our professional and personal lives.
The First Amendment does not protect your job, it protects you from being prosecuted by the government.
It is absurd to claim that insubordination is protected free speech.
Fort Hood Equal Opportunity Program is a scam
I had a EEO complaint and I resigned. When I went back to get a job a year + later. My old supervisor was contacted and she was sent my resume for review. She is the one I had the EEO complaint filed against . She was only my supervisor for 6 months 1 of which I was off work because of her behavior. I filed my complaint after 2 months. I was in my job position with the US Army for 5 years . I really need help because the what they did was cause a job that I was qualified, had been selected and I had accepted, to be called back and I was not able to work. They say it was because I sent an email calling my boss crazy.