上网骂老板受法律保护

    老法律和新技术的结合往往会产生怪胎。最近的例证就是：为了与时俱进，美国全国劳资关系委员会（National Labor Relations Board）已经把目光投向了公司员工对社交媒体的使用，结果出人意料。事实表明，1935年通过的、用于保护试图结社的工人免受报复的《全国劳资关系法案》（National Labor Relations Act）同样适用于保护在Facebook上发泄怨气的员工。

    劳资关系委员会就其最近的案件、水牛城西班牙裔联盟（Hispanics United of Buffalo, Inc.）所做出的裁决就印证了这一点。这份裁决受到了各大公司法律部门的密切关注，原因是，它是“首批针对基于社交媒体活动而遭到解聘的案件之一”。这起案件的裁决开创了一个先河，密尔沃基Arnstein & Lehr律师事务所劳动法律师杰西•迪尔（Jesse Dill）说：“不幸的是，结果对雇主不利。”

    事情的经过是这样的。西班牙裔联盟是一家旨在帮助家庭暴力受害者的非盈利性机构。这个机构一位名叫莉迪亚•克鲁兹-摩尔的雇员总是批评同事的工作，其中包括一位名叫玛丽安娜•科尔-瑞维拉的同事。2010年10月，摩尔通过短信告诉瑞维拉，她准备在高管面前数落瑞维拉。作为回应，瑞维拉在Facebook上发了个帖子：“莉迪亚•克鲁兹觉得我们（西班牙裔联盟）的员工并没有尽力去帮助客户。我受够了！亲爱的同事们，你们作何感想？”

    有四名同事留言，并且都站在了瑞维拉这边。因此，摩尔跑去向老板告状。几天后，瑞维拉和这四名同事就都被炒了鱿鱼。

    但劳资关系委员会对此事的裁决看起来有点怪，原因如下。首先，尽管劳资委员会保护员工为争取“相互帮助和保护”所开展的活动，但是在这一案件中遭到解雇的人并没有开展任何活动——或者，如同裁决的反对意见所说的那样“仅凭讨论的主题涉及工作的某一方面这一事实……还不足以构成为争取互助和保护而开展的协同活动，”迪尔说。“很多人喜欢在社交媒体上发泄工作中受到的委屈，但是大多数人并没有打算采取进一步行动。”

    其次，很多公司——尤其是加入工会的雇员寥寥无几的——从来没有重视过劳资委员会，因为大多数法律的条款只跟工会密切相关。迪尔称：“劳资委员会突然出手干预，吓了用人单位一跳。如今，面对Facebook发帖、推文和其他在线活动有可能会受到保护这一新形势，公司不得不重新审视自己的社交媒体政策。”

    至少眼下来看就是这样。西班牙裔联盟已经宣布，打算抗诉，而这一决定也有可能被上诉法庭推翻。与此同时，迪尔称，在社交媒体上说老板或同事的坏话依然不是什么明智的举动，因为这对你潜在的雇主来说是一个危险的信号。他说：“跑到Facebook上发泄一番不费吹灰之力。但是一旦信息被在线公布，要想收回来就很困难了，它们会永远都会留在那里。”这是大实话。（财富中文网）

    Old laws and new technologies make strange bedfellows. The latest proof: In an effort to catch up with the times, the National Labor Relations Board has turned its attention to employees' use of social media, with surprising results. It turns out that the National Labor Relations Act, passed in 1935, which protects workers from suffering reprisals for trying to organize a union, can also apply to people who are just venting on Facebook.

    So says the NLRB's decision in a recent case, Hispanics United of Buffalo, Inc. Closely watched by companies' legal departments because it was "one of the first cases to address a discharge from employment on the basis of social media activity," the ruling sets a precedent, notes Jesse Dill, a labor attorney at Arnstein & Lehr in Milwaukee. "Unfortunately, things did not turn out well for the employer."

    Here's what happened. At Hispanics United of Buffalo, a nonprofit set up to help victims of domestic violence, an employee named Lydia Cruz-Moore persistently criticized the work of colleagues, including one named Marianna Cole-Rivera. In October 2010, Cruz-Moore texted Cole-Rivera, saying she was going to take her complaints to the organization's executive director. Cole-Rivera reacted with a Facebook post that read: "Lydia Cruz, a coworker, feels that we don't help our clients enough at [Hispanics United]. I about had it! My fellow coworkers, how do u feel?"

    Four colleagues responded with their own posts, taking Cole-Rivera's side. So Cruz-Moore griped to their boss who, a couple of days later, fired Cole-Rivera and all four of her allies.

    The ruling against Hispanics United seems odd for a couple of reasons. First, while the NLRA protects employees' activities that are for their "mutual aid and protection," there was no suggestion that the people who were fired in this instance planned any activities at all -- or, as the dissenting opinion in the ruling put it, "[T]he mere fact that the subject of discussion involved an aspect of employment … is not enough to find concerted activity for mutual aid and protection." Says Dill, "Many people take to social media to vent their employment frustrations, but most have no intention of acting any further."

    And second, many companies -- especially those with few or no unionized employees -- never paid much attention to the NLRA, since most of the law's provisions relate specifically to unions. "The NLRB is really coming out of left field and surprising employers with this," Dill observes. "Companies now have to re-examine their social media policies in this new light of whether Facebook posts, tweets, and other online activities might be protected."

    At least for now. Hispanics United has announced plans to challenge the decision, which could be overturned by a court of appeals. In the meantime, Dill notes, it's still not smart to badmouth a boss or a colleague via social media, if for no other reason than that it's a red flag to prospective employers. "It's so easy to vent on Facebook," he says. "But once you put something online, it's hard to take it back. It's out there forever." Too true.