An administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that a New York based nonprofit organization must rehire five workers which were fired last October for posting work-related comments (some of which were laced with profanity) on Facebook.  The employees must be reinstated and must be paid all back pay and benefits.  According to the ruling judge in this case, “employees have a protected right to discuss matters affecting their employment amongst themselves.”

This decision is just one of several recent cases before the NLRB involving use of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites.  As stated in this article, this decision exemplifies that employers “must tread very carefully in seeking to…regulate the activites of employees on social media sites.”

Many churches and ministries regularly use social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, in their ministry efforts.  What is your organization’s position on employees posting work-related comments on social media sites?  Does your organization have a social media policy?

Tags: administrative law, church, employee, facebook, ministry, National Labor Relations Board, New York, NLRB, policies, Social Media, twitter