The case involving an employee who was discharged after posting disparaging comments about her supervisor on her Facebook page has been settled, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced in a news release yesterday. The NLRB caused a wave of unease among employers when it filed the case against American Medical Response of Connecticut, Inc. (AMR), on October 27, 2010.

The NLRB complaint asserted that AMR violated the National Labor Relations Act when it discharged Dawnmarie Souza for posting comments about her boss on her Facebook page and responding to related comments posted by her coworkers because such activity was protected. The complaint also claimed that AMR maintained “overly broad” rules on blogging, posting on the Internet, and communications between employees in its employee handbook and alleged that AMR illegally denied Souza union representation during an investigatory interview.

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Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) released two decisions dealing with remedial policies. The first decision addressed compounding interest on back pay, and the second dealt with electronically notifying employees and union members about NLRB orders in unfair labor practice cases.

In Kentucky River Medical Center, 356 NLRB No. 8, the NLRB unanimously adopted a new policy under which interest on back pay must be daily compounded. Compound interest effectuates the remedial policies of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) better than simple interest, according to the Board. The NLRB also noted that compound interest is normally used in private lending practices and for monetary obligations imposed by federal law, including obligations under the Internal Revenue Code.

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This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a surprising 5-4 decision holding that the previously short-staffed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) acted without authority over the two years it had only two members. As a result, more than 500 opinions decided by that Board are now invalid and will need to be readdressed.

In addition to administering the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which regulates labor relations in the private sector, the NLRB regulates union elections and union-related conduct, develops labor policies for decisionmaking, and polices labor-management relations through the prosecution of unfair labor practice proceedings. By statute, the NLRB is designed to have five members and is usually balanced with two Democrats, two Republicans, and one Independent.

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The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that employers can prohibit employees from using company e-mail to send union-related messages while allowing some personal use of e-mail.

In a 3-2 decision dated December 16 but released December 21, the NLRB majority ruled that the e-mail policy of Eugene, Oregon, newspaper The Register-Guard wasn’t a violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The company’s written policy prohibited the use of e-mail for “non-job-related solicitations.” But in practice, it allowed a number of nonwork-related employee e-mails. There was no evidence, however, that it permitted e-mails urging support for groups or organizations.

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