On November 2, 2010, the NLRB issued a press release reporting that its Hartford, Connecticut, regional office had issued a Complaint alleging that American Medical Response of Connecticut, Inc., (“AMR”) had published an overly broad blogging and Internet posting policy that violated employee Section 7 rights, and then illegally fired an employee for negative posts about a supervisor.

As described in the Complaint, the AMR policy prohibited employees from making disparaging remarks when discussing the company or supervisors and from depicting the company “in any way” over the Internet without company permission. Such provisions, according to the NLRB’s Complaint, constitute a violation of 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act because they interfere with employees’ right to engage in protected concerted activity under Section 7 of the NLRA. (The NLRB and courts typically interpret Section 7 as protecting employees’ right to discuss the terms and conditions of their employment with other employees or even non-employees.)  The NLRB also alleged that the employer illegally fired an employee pursuant to that policy for posting negative remarks about a supervisor on Facebook, which the NLRB said drew supportive remarks from her co-workers.

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