The eBranding Me team is proud to publish an original series: PBYP – Pause Before You Post. Every Monday morning our post features 5 “Social Media Over-Shares”. We have all made the mistake of pressing Post too soon and publishing content that was inappropriate or not complete. While these mistakes happen, a simple mouse-click can make a remarkable dent in one’s personal brand.
You can find all of the posts, organized for your convenience, here. Subscribe via email and/or RSS.
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Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) accused a company of illegally firing and employee after she publicly posted a status update on Facebook mocking her superior and depicting her employer in a negative light. This is the first time the NLRB has intervened in the firing of a worker over a social media scandal.
Previously there have been many instances where employees have been let go for their “social media over-shares” and blunders. However, the NLRB seems to think that in this particular case the National Labor Relations Act, established in 1935, was not properly followed. More specifically, the organization in question improperly limited its employees from discussing working conditions among themselves.
Lafe Solomon, the board’s acting general counsel, said, “This is a fairly straightforward case under the National Labor Relations Act — whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that.”
- Company Accused of Firing Over Facebook Post, New York Times 11.8.10
eBranding Me recommends that its readers avoid publicly posting negative sentiments towards their employers, co-workers, family and peers on social media sites. While the tools are there for social interactions and self-expression, some things are better left unsaid.
The news has sparked some very interesting debates and is being heavily discussed on and off line. Follow one of the more interesting discussions on Brazen Careerist after Nathan Lustig started an interesting conversation.
Instead of posting five social media over-shares this week, the eBranding Me team thought that it might be interesting to begin a discussion as to how organizations could balance their expectation of privacy with their workers’ right to free speech in the digital age. Feel free to leave a comment below or write your thoughts on our Facebook Page today!
Q: A labor board just ruled that employees have the right to discuss their employers/bosses on Facebook and other social networks. The board ruled that it’s illegal to restrict employees from talking to each other about their bosses and ruled that Facebook was similar to talking around the water cooler. Thoughts?
eBranding Me visitors can make submissions by simply emailing Info@eBranding.Me with the Subject “PBYP” or tweeting with the Hashtag “#PBYP”.
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