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Managing Employees on Social Media

By Kyle-Beth Hilfer
February 27, 2011

Editor's Note: On Feb. 7, American Medical Response of Connecticut settled the case mentioned in this article. Under the agreement, which was reached one day before a hearing by an administrative law judge was scheduled to begin, American Medical (AM) agreed to revise its “overly broad” social media policies. The employee, Dawnmarie Souza, settled privately with AM. The main issue of the case, i.e., whether employee discussions on
Facebook constitutes concerted activity under labor laws, was not addressed in the settlement. The case remains an important one as a cautionary warning to employers to tread carefully before firing employees for their social media activities.

Your employee is angry with her supervisor and posts a scathing rant on Facebook. Another employee is frustrated with her bonuses and starts an online group for fellow employees to complain about the company's compensation practices. Still another posts photos of himself wearing a hat with the company logo while drinking in a bar. How does the employer manage the online actions of its employees?

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