February 13, 2007 |
Posted By Diane Pfadenhauer |
Can a Company Prevent a Union from Using Email to Talk About Union Matters?
According to Ross, the National Labor Relations Board intends to address the rights of employees to use email and other systems to communicate about union activities in an oral argument at the end of March. The Board, which had recently solicited commentary on the subject, will consider some of the following:
- Do employees have a right to use their employer’s e-mail system to communicate with other employees about union or other concerted, protected matters?
- What restrictions, if any, may an employer place on those communications?
- May an employer prohibit e-mail access to its employees by nonemployees? To what extent may an employer monitor that use to prevent unauthorized use?
- Of what relevance is the location of the employee’s workplace? For example, what if the employee works at home?
- Is employees’ use of their employer’s e-mail system a mandatory subject of bargaining?