It has been almost a year since the first NLRB "Facebook
firing" case was filed in Connecticut. Since then,
we have tried to predict the future and interpret the meaning of
various settlement agreements and informal advice memoranda spurred
from subsequent complaints. Now, for the first
time, an Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") has issued a decision after a hearing in a case
involving the termination of employees for Facebook posts.
Back on May 20th, I blogged about In re:
Hispanics United of Buffalo, Inc. which arose from the
termination of five employees who engaged in a conversation on
Facebook that started with: "Lydia Cruz, a coworker
feels that we don't help our clients enough at HUB I about had
it! My fellow coworkers how do you feel?" A
discussion among co-workers ensued, which included some derogatory
remarks toward another coworker. Three days after the initial
post, the company terminated the posting employees on the ground
that "the posts
