If you're interested in the ever-shifting convergence of employment practices liability and the ubiquitiousness of social media, you might want to keep an eye on a lawsuit recently filed in Connecticut by the National Labor Relations Board, claiming a woman was unfairly fired for posting negative comments about a supervisor on her Facebook page.

From the New York Times article:

The labor relations board announced last week that it had filed a complaint against an ambulance service, American Medical Response of Connecticut, that fired an emergency medical technician, accusing her, among other things, of violating a policy that bars employees from depicting the company “in any way” on Facebook or other social media sites in which they post pictures of themselves.

Lafe Solomon, the board's acting general counsel, said, “This is a fairly straightforward case under the National Labor Relations Act — whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that.”

Although the employer states that the woman was fired for reasons other than her Facebook griping (in which several fellow disgruntled employees commiserated), the basis of the case causes one to think about whether formal company policies regarding social media use by employees outside the workplace are legally enforceable.