The hospital's response to nurses supporting their union on Facebook and other social media briefly became a sticking point in negotiations, according to the union.
When can your Facebook posts get you in trouble with the boss?
That issue, which has already roiled workplaces from schools to police departments, was front and center in recent contract negotiations involving two New Jersey hospitals and the nurses' union.
Some 1,200 nurses at Southern Ocean Medical Center and Jersey Shore University Medical Center ratified their new contract with parent company Meridian Health Monday, paving the way for resolution of a dispute over Facebook posts.
Nurses in a contract dispute with Meridian Health System posted signs of support on their union's Facebook page - which resulted in warnings from management, according to the union. (Photo from Health Professionals and Allied Professionals Facebook page) During contract negotiations, the union, Health Professionals and Allied Employees, took its beef about staffing levels to the general public, handing out leaflets and even sending out a giant billboard mounted on a flatbed truck.
Its outreach also included employees posting supportive comments on their social media accounts - which triggered a reaction from the hospital, said Bridget Devane, public policy director for the union. "We were just using another medium to get our message out," she said.
That didn't go over well with the hospital, however.
"Management started to tell nurses they're not allowed to post on social media sites anything about Meridian," she said. "They said it violated their social media policy."
Union representatives requested a copy of that policy. "Once we read it, we realized it violated nurses' rights. It's extremely vague, and broad enough that it goes against their union rights. They have a right to speak out."
No nurse was actually disciplined for having posted something, but the threats alone had staffers nervous, Devane said.
Late last month, the union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
The hospital declined to comment on the situation, according to a spokesman.
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In the meantime, contract negotiations continued, and an agreement was ratified by the nurses on Monday.
As part of the agreement, the NLRB complaint was withdrawn. The hospital will work with the union to revise its social media policy, Devane said.
"We of course would protect patients. We wouldn't want nurses to post anything that violated a patient's rights. But this violated nurses' rights," Devane said of the original social media policy. "We understand management's need to create a policy, but not to be so broad and vague that union activity could be disciplined."
So many companies have been drafting overly broad social media policies that the NLRB has issued advisories and guides to help them avoid running afoul of protected speech, said James M. Cooney, a professor at Rutgers University's School of Management and Labor Relations.
"It's a tough area for employers to navigate," he said.
Workers - even those whose workplaces aren't unionized - have a right to discuss workplace conditions and complaints in any medium, new-fangled or old-fashioned, he said.
"That means every single employer in the private sector has to be concerned about this," he said.
An employee could vent about dangerous conditions, or shift assignments, or other workplace policies, and have that speech protected. However, there are limits, said Cooney, who is also an attorney and labor arbitrator. Complaints about an individual supervisor or an individual situation don't come with that same federal protection, he said.
Nor could an employee expect any federal protection if he or she criticized a customer or a client. "That's something an employee could be disciplined over," Cooney said.
In the rush to embrace social media, Cooney said, many employers have ended up with employee policies that are unnecessarily broad. "Employers want the benefits of social media, but God forbid a union come into town and their employees start posting about that," he said. "They can't have it both ways.
Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.