Firm fires worker over Facebook comments, feds step in

When this employee made some disparaging comments about her boss on her personal Facebook page, the company fired her. Now the company has to answer to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Here’s the background: After asking an employee to put together an investigative report on a customer that complained about her work, American Medical Response of Connecticut allegedly denied the worker union representation.

Then, later that day, the employee posted a negative comment about her supervisor on her Facebook page. Her initial comment drew several responses from co-workers supporting the post. This spurred the employee to post additional negative comments about her supervisor.

Result: The employee was suspended and then fired for her Facebook comments, which violated the company’s Internet policies.

However, the NLRB say the posts constitute “protected concerted activity,” and the company’s blogging and Internet posting policy contain unlawful provisions

In response, the NLRB has issued a formal complaint against the American Medical Response of Connecticut, which alleges:

• the company illegally denied union representation to the employee during an investigatory interview, and
• the company maintained “an overly broad” blogging and Internet posting policy.

The company has denied the NLRB’s allegations, and the incident has drawn waves of local and national media attention. A hearing is now scheduled for Jan. 25, 2011.

We’ll keep you posted.