The National Labor Relations Board has accused a company of illegally firing an employee after she criticized her supervisor on her Facebook page, The New York Times reports. The case is considered groundbreaking in that it is the first time the labor board has stepped in to argue that workers' criticisms of their bosses or companies on a social networking site are protected activities, the report states. The company, American Medical Response of Connecticut, says the employee's activity was not protected under federal law. Philip Gordon of Littler Mendelson's Privacy & Data Protection Practice Group says the case should warn employers to "tread cautiously before taking adverse action against an employee for posting negative comments about the employer on social media sites."  (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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