NLRB “Deletes” Employer Email Rule

Until December 11, employers thought that they owned their email systems and could limit their use to company business.  On that day, a divided National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) ruled “not so.”  In Purple Communications, 361 NLRB No. 126 (Dec. 11, 2014), the NLRB ruled that employees who have access to an  employer’s email system as part of their job generally may, during non-working time, use the email system to communicate about wages, hours, working conditions and union issues.  The NLRB reached this conclusion notwithstanding the fact that Purple Communications has a rule providing that its email system was to be used for “business purposes only.”  It is expected that the NLRB’s ruling will be challenged in the federal courts.

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