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The words she used to describe her boss are too profane to put here. Dawnmarie
Souza may not be a model on-line citizen,
but that didn't stop the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from suing on
her behalf and securing a settlement. So
did Souza, who was fired by American Medical Response (AMR) in
2009, really strike a victory for "Facebook freedoms" in this closely-watched case? As an engineer or engineering manager, what might this court case mean to you?
When the NLRB sued AMR in the fall of 2010, the U.S. government agency charged
with mediating disputes between management and labor asserted that Souza was illegally
fired, in part because she was denied union representation. Under the terms of
the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, employees also have the right to discuss the
terms and conditions of their employment with co-workers. That protection
extends to on-line speech, the NLRB contended.
Souza's words may have been in poor taste, but she uttered them in the course of communicating
with other AMR employees, both on her own time and on her home computer. Under
the terms of the settlement, AMR has agreed to revise the "overly broad
rules" in its employee handbook about how employees can communicate on the
Internet and with co-workers regarding their work conditions.
Souza's
status as unionized employee is different from that of most engineers, and the
absence of a judicial decision doesn't exactly make this case a legal precedent.
Does your company have a social media policy in its handbook yet? If so, do you think it would stand up in court?
Source: cnet
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