Positive workplace policies have long been uncontroversial. Typically, these policies set the expectation for employees that they will represent their employer in a positive light, and won’t make negative comments or engage in gossip about the company, customers, or fellow employees. This seems common sense — what could go wrong?
Recently, Hills and Dales General Hospital found out the hard way what could go wrong. The hospital fell under the scrutiny of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency responsible for policing our nation’s labor laws. The NLRB took a long hard look at three of the hospital’s policies governing positive employee conduct. Although one may very well ask what Facebook posts have to do with labor laws from the 1930s, the NLRB found that these seemingly innocuous positive workplace rules violated employees’ labor law rights — specifically the right to act together to improve working conditions, known as “protected concerted activity.”