NLRB judge: Employees can bitch about their jobs on Facebook

By Alison Frankel

Note to disgruntled employees: You can't be fired for complaining about your job on Facebook. That's the upshot of the first ruling to address employees' use of social media by a National Labor Relations Board judge. Last week, in a case called Hispanics United of Buffalo, administrative law judge Arthur Amchan said HUB violated the National Labor Relations Act when it fired five employees who commiserated about their jobs on Facebook. Judge Amchan's ruling endorsed the NLRB's stance that employees are protected from retribution for job-related postings. "Discussions about the workplace are protected whether they occur at the watercooler or the virtual watercooler," said Laura Lawless Robertson of Greenberg Traurig, who sent out an alert about the NLRB administrative law judge's ruling Friday.

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