On September 19, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board’s Office of the General Counsel released an Advice Memorandum according to which employees posting blog entries, entries on social networking web sites or wikis, or texting must make clear that the views expressed by them are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of U.S. The employer has a legitimate interest in protecting itself from unauthorized postings and may require employees to post appropriate disclaimers to avoid such possible confusion.
The NLRB released its memorandum after a New England chapter of the Service Employees Union challenged several provisions of U.S. Security Associates’s social media policy, including the requirement that an employee post, “The views expressed on this website/blog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.”
The NLRB found the disclaimer requirement to be lawful. “[T]he employer has a legitimate interest in protecting itself against unauthorized postings purportedly on its behalf and the requirement would not unduly burden employees in the exercise of their Section 7 right to discuss working conditions. Although one could argue that the disclaimer requirement would be unduly burdensome if it was applicable to text messages, in light of their brevity, the employer’s rule requires the disclaimer only on a ‘site,’ where posting the disclaimer would not be a burden.”
The Advice Memorandum includes several other findings related to posting material on social media. The document (Case number 04-CA-066069, U.S. Security Associates, Inc.) can be downloaded at http://www.nlrb…
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