NLRB’s Newest Report Scrutinizes Social Media Policies and Provides a Sample Lawful Policy

Acknowledging that “(e)mployee use of social media as it relates to the workplace continues to increase, raising various concerns by employers,” on May 30 the National Labor Relations Board Acting General Counsel Lafe E. Solomon issued his third and latest report on social media cases, providing specific guidance on how to construct a lawful social media policy.

In the report, Solomon takes a narrow view of what types of policy provisions are acceptable and instructs, for example, that certain confidentiality provisions, rules against “friending” co-workers, and blanket prohibitions of disparaging remarks are unlawful because they unduly restrict employees’ rights to discuss working conditions and terms and conditions of employment under the National Labor Relations Act.

For a detailed analysis of the report, please see the Hogan Lovells Employment Alert authored by Kenneth Kirschner and Vi Vu in the Labor and Employment Practice group in our New York office, and Chris Wolf and Bret Cohen in the Privacy and Information Management group in our Washington, D.C. office.

Authored by The HL Chronicle of Data Protection Team.