NLRB Creates Right to Use Corporate E-Mail to Organize and to Complain About Work: Ten Key Implications for Employers

In a precedent-setting ruling, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the "Board") held last week in Purple Communications that Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) requires employers, except in very limited circumstances, to open their corporate e-mail systems to union organizing by employees and to group discussions among employees about the terms and conditions of employment during non-work time.  The 3-to-2 decision overturns the Board's December 2007 decision in Register Guard, holding that because a corporate e-mail system is the employer’s property, an employer could ban all non-business e-mail communications, including communications protected by Section 7.  Significantly, because Section 7 applies to all employers, not just unionized ones, the Board's decision affects almost every U.S. employer that provides a corporate e-mail system. Continue reading this article here.