{"id":16241,"date":"2015-02-05T18:14:19","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T23:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-office-email-impacted-by-nlrb-ruling.html"},"modified":"2015-02-05T18:14:19","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T23:14:19","slug":"business-report-office-email-impacted-by-nlrb-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-office-email-impacted-by-nlrb-ruling\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Report: Office Email Impacted By NLRB Ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\"bond\n<\/div>\n
Subhash Viswanathan, employment law attorney with Bond, Schoeneck & King\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

BY SUBHASH VISWANATHAN<\/p>\n

On Dec. 11, the National Labor Relations
\nBoard issued a 3-2 decision in Purple Communications
\nInc., holding that employees have a
\npresumptive right to use their employer’s email
\nsystem during non-working time to communicate
\nregarding union organizing and to engage
\nin other protected concerted activities under
\nSection 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.
\nThe board’s decision overruled a 2007
\ndecision.<\/p>\n

The ruling involved Purple Communications
\nin California. Its electronic communications
\npolicy provided systems and equipment were
\n“to facilitate company business” and that “all
\nsuch equipment and access should be used for
\nbusiness purposes only.”<\/p>\n

The policy also prohibited employees from
\nusing it to engage “in activities on behalf of
\norganizations or persons with no professional
\nor business affiliation with the company” and
\nfrom sending “uninvited email of a personal
\nnature.”<\/p>\n

There was no dispute that, under the board’s
\n2007 decision, the policy was perfectly lawful
\nas written.<\/p>\n

In the fall of 2012, the Communications
\nWorkers of America filed petitions to represent
\nemployees at seven of Purple Communications’
\nfacilities. After an election was held, the union
\nfiled objections to the results of the election
\nat two facilities and an unfair labor practice
\ncharge, alleging (among other things) that the
\nelectronic communications policy interfered
\nwith the employees’ Section 7 rights.<\/p>\n

An administrative law judge, relying on the
\nboard’s 2007 decision, found the electronic
\ncommunications policy to be lawful. The board
\nmajority, however, found that decision improperly
\nplaced too much weight on the property
\nrights of employers in their own email systems
\nand too little weight on the Section 7 right of
\nemployees to communicate in the workplace
\nabout their terms and conditions of employment.<\/p>\n

The majority also believed that the decision
\nfailed to recognize the importance of email as a
\nmeans by which employees engage in protected
\ncommunications. Therefore, the majority overruled
\nand held that employees have a presumptive
\nright to use their employer’s email system
\nduring non-working time to engage in communications
\nprotected by Section 7 of the Act.<\/p>\n

The NLRB made clear that this presumption
\napplies only to employees who have been
\ngranted access to the employer’s email system
\nin the course of their work and does not require
\nan employer to provide access to its email system
\nto employees who do not otherwise need it.<\/p>\n

In addition, the NLRB held that an employer
\nmay rebut the presumption and justify a total
\nban on non-business use of its e-mail system
\nby demonstrating that “special circumstances
\nmake the ban necessary to maintain production
\nor discipline.”<\/p>\n

Virtually no guidance is provided in the
\ndecision regarding what those “special circumstances”
\nmight be, but the board majority
\nstated that “we anticipate that it will be
\nthe rare case where special circumstances
\njustify a total ban on non-work e-mail use by
\nemployees.”<\/p>\n

NLRB remanded the case back to the administrative
\nlaw judge for a determination of
\nwhether Purple Communications could successfully
\nrebut the presumption and justify
\nthe scope of its prohibition on the personal
\nuse of email.<\/p>\n

The restriction that employees may use
\ntheir employer’s email system for Section 7
\npurposes only during non-working time raises
\na significant question: Can an employer monitor
\nemployee use of its e-mail systems during
\nworking time to ensure compliance with this
\nrestriction and discipline employees who are
\nfound to have engaged in Section 7 activity
\nthrough e-mail during working time, without
\nrisking potential liability for unlawful surveillance
\nor discrimination based on union
\nactivities?<\/p>\n

According to the NLRB decision, an employer
\nmay continue to notify employees that
\nthey should have no expectation of privacy in
\ntheir use of the employer’s e-mail system and
\nmay continue to monitor the use of its email
\nsystem for legitimate business purposes. However, the board stated that this monitoring is
\nlawful only if “the employer does nothing out
\nof the ordinary.”<\/p>\n

For example, the decision leaves open the
\npossibility that an employer’s increased monitoring
\nduring a union organizing campaign or
\nan employer’s particular focus on employees
\nwho are known union activists could result in
\npotential liability under Sections 8(a)(1) or
\n8(a)(3) of the Act.<\/p>\n

In the view of the dissenting NLRB voters,
\nan employer’s interests in controlling the use
\nof its own electronic communications system
\nshould prevail over employees’ interests in using
\nthat system for union organizing activities,
\nespecially in light of the availability of other
\nelectronic communications networks such
\nas employees’ own personal email and social
\nmedia sites.<\/p>\n

Many employers’ electronic communications
\npolicies already permit employees to
\nengage in some limited personal use of email
\nsystems as long as that personal use does not
\ninterfere with the employee’s work duties or
\nthe work duties of other employees.<\/p>\n

This type of policy may very well be lawful
\neven under the Purple Communications decision,
\nbecause, on its face, it likely would not
\nbe interpreted to prohibit Section 7 protected
\nactivity during non-working time. At this point,
\nhowever, if your electronic communications
\npolicy contains a blanket prohibition on the
\nuse of your email system for personal reasons,
\nyou may want to consider potential revisions.
\nViswanathan is a labor and employment law
\nattorney with Bond, Schoeneck & King.<\/p>\n

Photo Courtesy Bond Schoeneck & King<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Subhash Viswanathan, employment law attorney with Bond, Schoeneck & King BY SUBHASH VISWANATHAN On Dec. 11, the National Labor Relations Board issued a 3-2 decision in Purple Communications Inc., holding that employees have a presumptive right to use their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[58,92],"class_list":["post-16241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-reports","tag-business-reports","tag-legal"],"yoast_head":"\r\nBusiness Report: Office Email Impacted By NLRB Ruling - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2015\/02\/business-report-office-email-impacted-by-nlrb-ruling\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Report: Office Email Impacted By NLRB Ruling - 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