National Labor board: Can't fire employees for Facebook comments

Monika Plocienniczak reports on CNN.com that the National Labor Relations Board (NRLRB) issued a complaint against American Medical Response, an Ambulance company that fired one of their employees after she had made some negative comments about her job on Facebook.

AMR, of course, denies that the woman was fired for her Facebook comments. They say that she was fired because of multiple complaints about job performance and her treatment of patients.

In some ways it doesn't matter why she was fired. It does matter what the final decision is. If a court agrees with the NLRB, then venting about your boss on Facebook becomes protected speech under the National Labor Act. That is very important. Right now employers can monitor Facebook and determine who is hired, who is promoted, who is demoted using what they find there. If Facebook comments fall under the National Labor Act then the won't be able to do that. It may not prevent employers from using social media to look at prospective employees, but it will make it illegal for social media to be used to determine who to fire, promote or give raises.

One of the biggest problems with social media is that it makes parts of our lives that used to (and still should) remain private are public. Now those private things are being used to determine whether persons would make good employees. We know things now about past Presidents that might have, had they been generally known at the time, been major scandals. Maybe even have derailed their presidency. John Kennedy was a womanizer. So was Clinton. Whatever you may think of his womanizing (and his politics), Clinton was one of the most astute statesmen the U.S. has had in the Oval Office.

Much of what is on Facebook is "not safe for work" and much isn't safe for your career (current or future) either. The bad thing is, much of that isn't really a good indicator of what kind of employee a person will be. Employers shouldn't be allowed to use it for that purpose.

Is social media safe for work?

As we become ever more involved with Facebook, Twitter and the like it's becoming more common for companies to allow employees to access them online. But is that a wise decision? Both Facebook and Twitter have been hit by malware recently, and it is only expected to happen more often. Facebook is built on trust - a commodity that has to be earned in less open environments.

While social networks rely on people trusting each other, in a business environment a certain amount of paranoia can be a good thing. Clicking the wrong link or friending the wrong person can place a companies data and resources - even the most important resource, the customers, in jeopardy. Spam and phishing email rely on people's trusting nature. Facebook encourages it.

Companies often block websites that are known malware hosts. Many block, or used to block, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. As they have become more popular and marketing departments see promotional opportunities, the demand for access at work has risen, and many companies have relaxed their policies. There are good and valid reasons for businesses to market on Facebook and other social networks, but is it necessary for them to allow all employees access to them?

Companies routinely block sites that are known to be dangerouse or objectionable. Most also have provisions for employees who need to access those sites. The same could be done with social networks. It would make sense to only allow access to social media to those who need it as part of their job. It limits the exposure and can make it easier to track down the source of an infection.

As more companies allow unlimited access to social networks it's only a matter of time before there is a major breach from access of social networks. The only question is when.