Employee’s online and obscenity-laced rant viewed as protected activity by the #NLRB - Employment La

By a two-to-one vote, a three-member panel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) upheld an administrative law judge’s findings that an employer unlawfully discharged an employee because of social media comments – including strong obscenities – that were personally critical of a company manager. Pier Sixty, LLC and Hernan Perez, et al, NLRB Cases No 02-CA-068612 and 02-CA-070797, March 31, 2015.

Pier Sixty operates a catering service company in Manhattan, NY. In early 2011, the company’s employees expressed interest in union representation, based in part because of concerns that management treated them “disrespectfully and in an undignified manner.” Those efforts resulted in a successful organizing campaign, after which the Union was certified as the exclusive collective bargaining representatives for the servers, captains, bartenders and coat checkers in the company’s banquet department after an October 27, 2011 election.

Two days before that election, Hernan Perez, a long-term employee, was working as a server at an event. During the cocktail service, a company manager, Robert McSweeney, allegedly approached and – in a loud voice and in front of guests – addressed Perez and two other employees, using an unnecessarily harsh tone, and waiving his arms. McSweeney was one of the company managers identified by employees as treating company workers disrespectfully.

Upset with McSweeney’s treatment, Perez took a break and, outside of the banquet facility, posted from his phone a message to his personal Facebook page. The message referred to McSweeney as a “NASTY M***** F***er” and a “LOSER!!!!,” stated “f*** his mother and his entire f***ing family,” and ended with “Vote YES for the UNION!!!!!!!”

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http://www.employmentlawmatters.net/2015/04/articles/nlra/employees-online-and-obscenity-laced-rant-viewed-as-protected-activity-by-the-nlrb/