In recent months, the NLRB* has decided to crack down on some fairly typical and widespread employer policies which, on their face, have hardly seemed suspect and some of which most lawyers, including this one, have advised their clients to have in place. The NLRB has asserted that the following practices may interfere with an employee’s right to engage in protected activity under the NLRA:
- statements that employment is “at will”
- requests that employees refrain from discussing on-going investigations of employee misconduct
- policies that prohibit employees’ use of social media to criticize the employer
Without delving into the merits, or lack thereof, of such assertions, it would seem wise for companies to add language to these types of written policies to the effect that such policy “does not and is not intended to undermine or interefere with an employee’s right to engage in protected concerted activity under the NLRA.”
(*The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) is responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), a set of federal labor laws which apply to most employers whose businesses impact interstate commerce.)
