Are you allowed to criticize your boss on Facebook and other social media sites? Apparently so, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

The Board has filed a complaint against an ambulance service that had fired a technician because she had violated company policy that bars workers from depicting the company "in any way" on Facebook and other social media sites. It said that the company's Facebook rule was overly broad and limited workers' rights to discuss working conditions amongst themselves.

On January 25, 2011, an administrative law judge will hear the case of the employee who was dismissed after she posted derogatory comments on Facebook about her supervisor, when he would not let her get a representative from the union to help her draft a response to a customer who had complained about her work. Her comments drew supportive responses from her co-workers.

According to the Board's acting general counsel, under the National Labor Relations Act employees have a federally protected right to talk jointly about working conditions, whether on Facebook or at the water cooler.

If an employee lashes out against a boss or company on social media, not necessarily communicating with co-workers, that is not necessarily protected activity. If the Facebook conversation involves several co-workers, that is viewed as concerted protected activity. But if the worker lashes out at a boss over something that is totally unrelated to work, then that crosses the line into unprotected territory. As well, if the statements that are made are defamatory and not supported by facts, that, too, crosses the line.

A former member of the Board commented that a broad company rule stating that workers cannot make disparaging comments about supervisors is illegal under the labor law, but he also said that criticizing a boss or company on Facebook is not necessarily protected activity.

It will be interesting to know the outcome of this case. In the meantime, employers everywhere are encouraged to review their social media policies to determine if they are in any way susceptible of violating workers' rights to discuss wages, working conditions, etc.