Last week, the Third Circuit reversed a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) decision finding that FDRLST Media, publisher of online news magazine The Federalist, unlawfully threatened its employees when its Executive Officer tweeted about sending employees “to the salt mine” if they tried to form a union. In FDRLST Media, LLC v. NLRB, the Third Circuit found that a reasonable employee would not view the tweet as threatening or otherwise interfering with employees exercising their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).
The Executive Officer posted the tweet in question from his personal Twitter account in response to news that staffers at a different media company had walked off the job during union contract negotiations: “FYI @fdrlst first one of you tries to unionize I swear I’ll send you back to the salt mine.” Both an ALJ and the NLRB found the tweet to be an objective threat against the employer’s employees in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA.
On appeal, the Third Circuit reversed, finding the tweet—which was obviously intended to be a joke—to be harmless. The court found these circumstances important context, since the tweet regarded matters—specifically, labor relations news—that The Federalist reports about on a regular basis. Additionally, the fact that there was no evidence of labor strife at The Federalist at the time of the tweet further indicated that employees likely would not read the tweet as an imminent threat. Under...
Founder and leader of Perez Chapel International, Archbishop Charles Agyinasare has urged Ghanaians to take responsibility for misinformation they share by retracting false claims, apologising to ...