Photo of Joel S. Barras

An NLRB Administrative Law Judge, following the lead of the NLRB and its recent decision in Costco Wholesale Inc., invalidated the social media and other employment policies of EchoStar Corp. The policies deemed improper prohibited employees, in part, from disparaging a company on social media sites. The ALJ agreed with the NLRB General Counsel’s argument that a generic clause in the employee handbook that employees were free to exercise their rights under the National Labor Relations Act was insufficient to bring the rules within compliance with the Act.

Given the Board’s decision in Costco and the General Counsel’s campaign against such policies, we expect more decisions at both the ALJ and the Board level invalidating employment policies limiting employee speech, regardless of the forum.
Continue Reading NLRB Decision Guides Administrative Law Judge’s Invalidation of Social Media Policy

The National Labor Relations Board’s recent decision in Costco Wholesale Inc., invalidated certain personnel policies, including social media policies, protecting the dissemination of employee health information and personal identifiers. This case marked the NLRB’s first decision involving its independent General Counsel’s interpretation of federal labor law as it applies to social media and other personnel policies. The decision (profiled here by Joel Barras) signals the NLRB’s agreement with its chief prosecutor’s attack on commonly adopted policies regarding, among other things, confidentiality of company information, and follows the series of reports issued by the NLRB General Counsel on social media.
Continue Reading NLRB Rejects Social Media and Confidentiality Policies