Can You Talk Bad About Your Boss On Facebook And Keep Your Job?

In today's social media-driven world, it seems like a permanent electronic record is being kept of everything. Our incessant need to keep everyone informed of what we're doing (and thinking) can often backfire however. Facebook updates have been used to catch criminals. Tweets have been used as evidence in divorce proceedings. And of course, you can't get away with badmouthing your boss online, and expect to keep your day job.

Or can you?:

In what labor officials and lawyers view as a ground-breaking case involving workers and social media, the National Labor Relations Board has accused a company of illegally firing an employee after she criticized her supervisor on her Facebook page.

This is the first case in which the labor board has stepped in to argue that workers' criticisms of their bosses or companies on a social networking site are generally a protected activity and that employers would be violating the law by punishing workers for such statements.

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The labor relations board announced last week that it had filed a complaint against an ambulance service, American Medical Response of Connecticut, that fired an emergency medical technician, accusing her, among other things, of violating a policy that bars employees from depicting the company "in any way" on Facebook or other social media sites in which they post pictures of themselves.

The case involves Dawnmarie Souza, who had to prepare a response to a customer's complaint about her work. Ms. Souza was unhappy that her supervisor would not let a representative of the Teamsters, the union representing the company's workers, help prepare her response.

Ms. Souza then mocked her supervisor on Facebook, using several vulgarities to ridicule him. She had written, "love how the company allows a 17 to become a supervisor" - 17 is the company's lingo for a psychiatric patient.

The labor board said that her comments "drew supportive responses from her co-workers" and led to further negative comments about the supervisor.

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Celebs Get Paid for Fashion Week

Beyonce is said to rake in between $80,000 and $100,000. Not bad for about 15 minutes of work, the average length of a fashion show.

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Fashion Week: Stars Get Paid

Beyonce is said to rake in between $80,000 and $100,000. Not bad for about 15 minutes of work, the average length of a fashion show.

Fashion Week: Stars Get Paid

Lady Gaga has not attended many shows recently, but we estimate that she could command $250,000 for her star style power.

Fashion Week: Stars Get Paid

The cast of 'Jersey Shore' used to be DO NOT INVITE -- but they are so popular now that maybe labels are willing to risk their brand images a little bit.

Fashion Week: Stars Get Paid

Kim K. might earn between $35,000 and $50,000 per show. She can then parlay these paid appearances into her own fashion and beauty enterprises. Smart woman!

Fashion Week: Stars Get Paid

Lindsay Lohan has gone from being a star darling to getting the DO NOT INVITE glare.

Fashion Week: Stars Get Paid

La Lopez has seen her fashion stock plummet in recent years, but she can still get paid $30,000 to see shows.

Fashion Week: Stars Get Paid

Paris Hilton, despite her pointless popularity, is seen as fashion kryptonite, garnering a DO NOT INVITE stamp from designers, or at the most a "free" pass to attend shows.

Fashion Week: Stars Get Paid

Rihanna has been taking some questionable fashion risks with her red hair lately, but that does not prevent the popsicle-hued pop star from commanding up to $100,000 (or more!) for one fashion show appearance.

Fashion Week: Stars Get Paid

'America's Next Top Model' winners like Jaslene Gonzalez are listed by Fashionista.com as being allowed to attend Fashion Week for "free" -- while it's unclear what that means. Let's just assume that it means all girlfriend's out-of-pocket expenses are paid for, but 'ANTM' winners don't take home loads of cash.

Fashion Week: Stars Get Paid

[Note to self: make sure my boss isn't following me on Twitter.]

I'm somewhat on the fence about this one. Souza apparently made the Facebook posting on her own time and on her own computer, not while working. Having a conversation with friends about work, after work is as American as apple pie, and such conversations are often critical of employers. We've all done this.

While you could certainly question how smart it is to badmouth your boss on Facebook, maybe that's the only way Souza felt she could get the incident off her chest. Since many of her co-workers were friends, it only makes sense that they'd pile on. It's not the wisest of ideas to put this out in the (semi)public domain, but it's just a sign of the times. I'm sure we've all put things online that in retrospect don't seem like such a good idea.

Then again, referring to your boss as a psych patient probably isn't all that smart either. Did she deserved to be fired for this? According to the courts, no.

Either way, this is food for thought for all of us. Watch what you say, you truly never know who's listening (or reading).

Question: Should Souza have been fired for talkin' smack about her boss on Facebook, or is what you do on your own time your own business?

Jay Anderson is a freelance writer from Washington, DC, whose work has been featured in the Washington Post and on NPR. When he's not busy talking smack here, he runs the award-winning blog AverageBro.com. Follow him via Twitter @AverageBro.