Employers Should Reassess Social Media Policies In Light Of Appeals Court Decision
Can liking a work colleague’s post on Facebook get you fired? According to a federal appeals court, the answer is probably no.
But that could be different for health-care employees depending on the subject matter and reach of the Facebook post.
In a non-precedential Oct. 21 order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a National Labor Relations Board’s decision finding that a Connecticut sports bar violated federal labor laws when it fired employees for posting about and then hitting “Like” on a post that was critical of the bar’s payroll practices.
For health-care employers this could take on special significance because of the impact that any Facebook posts could have on patient care and on the trust that patients’ families have in the quality of care at a particular facility.
A number of practitioners that I talked to expressed the opinion that the court’s decision should cause even non-unionized health-care employers to reassess their social media policies to conform to the dictates of labor laws and proceed carefully when dealing with employees who have posted comments critical of the employer.
Additionally, there is the question of employees becoming Facebook friends with patients and patient families, thus potentially creating a virtual patient care area in which even labor organizing speech is somewhat restrained under the labor laws.
Reference: Matthew Loughran, Health Care Blog, Bloomberg BNA (November 5, 2015)
Filed under: Employment Law, Social Media Policies
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