New York Judge Rules in Favor of Five Employees Fired for Facebook Comments
New York Judge Rules in Favor of Five Employees Fired for Facebook Comments
Posted 09/09/2011 at 7:14am
| by Paul Lilly
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Common sense dictates that if you log into a social network and start complaining about your place of employment, you risk receiving a pink slip from the powers that be. That's exactly what happened to five employees who ended up fired from Hispanics United of Buffalo, who ended up suing their company, and won.
An Administrative Law Judge found that the Buffalo nonprofit organization was in the wrong for firing employees over Facebook comments, a ruling that's a first of its kind, according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). NLRB says it started when an employee overheard a coworker criticize other employees for not working hard enough on the behalf of the organization's clients. The employee then posted those comments on her Facebook wall, and it didn't take long for fellow workers to chime in and defend their work ethics and bemoan working conditions. All five who participated in the Facebook discussion were shown the door.
Administrative Law Judge Arthur Amchan ultimately ruled that their discussion was protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act since it involved coworkers talking about their terms and conditions of employment. The judge then order Hispanics United to reinstate all five employees, with backpay, and to post a notice at its Buffalo location outlining employee rights under the Act.
Imagine the first day back for all five employees. Can we say awkward?
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praack
September 12, 2011 at 7:25am
this was actually a narrow ruling- the board did not rule on facebook but only the fact that the workers conversation was on terms and conditions of employement.
if the conversation had strayed from the topic to "banter" then they would have lost.
what is a shame in the US is the lack of protection for workers, and the expectation now that you do not deserve any of the same common protections our friends across the pond have.
our labor laws are stuck back at the dawn of the industrial revolution in this regards.
Ghok
September 09, 2011 at 2:06pm
This doesn't seem Facebook related so much as some people said a bunch of shit and got fired for it. The fact it was on Facebook is mostly incidental. There's not a lot of professionalism here... I would expect at least the person who did the first posting would get fired for this.
But I'll play the devil's advocate here for the sense of discussion. If these people had said this in a bar somewhere, they wouldn't have been fired. The places where we socialize are a lot different than they were a couple decades ago, and employers (and others) do need to take that into account.
It's going to be a while before we as a society figure out how to intigrate with the digital age.
rayatwork05
September 09, 2011 at 3:49pm
most big companies have employment clauses that state you cannot degrade or defame their company in any way even when out and about on your own time or you may face trubs
ChatterboxChuck
September 09, 2011 at 10:36am
What I like about the story is how everyone got fired and even though it all started with the critizism of each other, they ended up uniting, fighting together and winning together. Makes me wonder if somewhere along the line of the court case they got together and said sorry to each other for criticizing their work ethics.
BTW, I agree with toaster too, online and offline are no different. Just because you can hide you indentity in some places doesn't mean you can do and say what you want. But what's even more stupid is to do it on a site where:
A) Your family, friends and even co-workers are on your list and their Famili, friends and co-workers can see it if they comment on your post.
B) Where you can not go by with a nym as your online ID due to the strict rules of the site.
C) People actually read everything you write.
Coldrage
September 09, 2011 at 7:55am
Ugh another article about this kind of stuff, what we do online these days are having far too many consequences of what can happen in the real world, and it's wrong.
iheartpcs
September 09, 2011 at 9:38am
What, Facebook isn't real? Is the internet some fantasy place where we can do whatever we want without consequences?
Cool.
TerribleToaster
September 09, 2011 at 8:42am
I find it interesting that people try and separate what you do online from what you do "in the real world". As I have always been pretty sure that the online world is part of the real world, not separate from it.
But you have to remember, consequences aren't always bad.
bling581
September 09, 2011 at 9:56am
I agree as well. If it's something you wouldn't say to an employee's face then don't go post it online. If it is something you'd say to their face....well, be ready for the consequences.
Or be "not dumb" and just don't post anything job related online.
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