In a decision issued by the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) that will have a long-term impact in the area of Employment Law, an employee of an ambulance company, who was fired because of a rant posted on her Facebook page about her manager, has reached a settlement with her employer. Dawnmarie Souza was employed by American Medical Response, and subsequently fired when she posted critical comments about her supervisor on her Facebook page.
In a complaint filed on October 27, 2010, against American Medical Response of Connecticut, Ms. Souza claimed that her termination was improper and that she was denied union representation. One of the issues was whether a worker has the right to criticize a supervisor on a site like Facebook if co-workers add comments? This was a first for the NLRB.
According to The New York Times, “[u]nder the settlement, American Medical will revise its ‘overly broad rules’ to ensure that they do not improperly restrict employees from discussing wages, hours and working conditions with co-workers and others while not at work, and that they would not discipline or discharge employees for engaging in such discussions, the labor board said in a statement. The company promised that employee requests for union representation when meeting with managers would not be denied, and that employees would not be threatened with discipline for requesting union representation, according to the agency.”