Sheriff Sued Over Social Media Policy

We've reported on a number of NLRB decisions striking down social media policies for being too broad because they regulate protected employee conduct.  Although the NLRB doesn't apply to local government employees, public employees are still entitled to certain protections for their social media activities.  

When a government goes too far in regulating the social media activities of its employees, there are constitutional implications in addition to labor rights.  The former is the subject of a case filed against the Harris County Sheriff (HCSO), where employees allege that a social media policy violated their First Amendment right to free speech.  

The following are a few examples of policy provisions that have been challenged:

• An employee's actions must never bring the HCSO in disrepute
• Personnel are free to express themselves as private citizens on social media sites to the degree that their speech does not impair working relationships of the HCSO
• Personnel shall not post any information pertaining to any other member of the HCSO
• Employees cannot engage in negative speech about the HCSO

It will be worth watching this case to see how a court deals with a government social media policy - there are a lot of NLRB decisions on private employers, but very little guidance for government employers (the few cases that have been filed have mostly settled).

You can read the complaint here:  Pittman v. Garcia (S. Dist. Texas, 2014).  

Post Authored by Julie Tappendorf