In a follow up to my breaking news story about the BMW dealership in Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune, the National Labor Relations Board has determined that while the employee’s Facebook posts concerning the quality of food and beverages offered to customers at the dealership during a sales event was protected activity, the dealership did not break laws by terminating the employee because he also posted pictures of the accident which took place at a neighboring dealership that belonged to the same company.
The NLRB determination reinforces that you need to be careful when determining disciplinary action when it relates to social media posts by employees as I outlined in a subsequent article. The posts about the sales event, being considered protected activity, means that had the employee not also posted the pictures of the accident (which was not protected activity), the dealership would have lost this decision and been held accountable for fines, back-pay and other disciplinary actions.
(Originally published October 17, 2011 on Dealer magazine)
