In an effort to control employees' activities on Facebookand Twitter, some U.S. companies have instituted social mediapolicies that run afoul of labor law and infringe on workers'rights, according to a memo issued last month by the NationalLabor Relations Board (NLRB).

Policies that forbid employees from posting anything potentially“misleading” about the company online or tell employees to becareful about “friending” their co-workers on Facebook violateprovisions of the National Labor Relations Act, which coverscollective bargaining and employees' “protected activities” in theworkplace.

Areas of focus include prohibiting or restricting employeesfrom:

1. “Friending” other employees. Workers have theright to communicate with each other, so statements encouragingemployees to “think carefully about 'friending' co-workers” areillegal.
2. Posting about the company. Under federal law,employees have the right to criticize their companies and howworkers are treated, so a policy that broadly stated that acompany's employees couldn't talk about the company is illegal.Employees also have the right to discuss legal claims they may haveagainst their employers.
3. Talking about co-workers. Workers have theright to discuss wages and conditions of employment with others andeach other, so a blanket prohibition over talking about co-workerswas considered illegal.
4. Posting the company or other's trademarks, videos andpictures without permission. NLRB said that a provisioncompletely prohibiting posting this kind of content on social mediapages was deemed unlawful, while a policy urging people to “respectthird party intellectual property” is legal.
5. Talking to the press. Employees have the rightto talk to the press in certain labor disputes, so a blanketprohibition over talking to the media was consideredillegal.
6. Talking in an indecent manner. An employee hasthe right to criticize an employer's labor policies and treatmentof its employees, so a provision warning employees to “avoidharming the image and integrity of the company” was unlawful.However, blanket prohibition of harassment and bullying areacceptable.
7. Talking about inflammatory topics. Employeeshave the right to talk in a “robust” manner about workingconditions, so statements even just encouraging employees to“[a]dopt a friendly tone” in online discussions were deemedillegal, as they could be interpreted as prohibiting this kind ofdiscussion.
8. Using social media while at work. The NLRBindicated that completely prohibiting employees from using socialmedia with employer resources or on employer time was unlawful,because employees have the right to engage in certain activities onthe employer's premises during non-work time and in non-work.