Is It Illegal to Criticize Your Employer on Social Media?

Pop quiz! Can the comments you post on social media cost you your job?

Generally, the answer is no. But it's important that before you turn to social media to gripe about your employer or the annoying things your boss does, that you know what is and what is not an illegal move.

For the answer, we turned to Todd Wulffson, managing partner in the Orange County office of Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP, a leading California employment, labor and business immigration law firm providing litigation defense and counseling to California employers. Wulffson has 25 years of experience counseling and defending businesses in labor and employment issues.

Here's what he had to say when we asked him "Is It Illegal to Criticize Your Employer on Social Media?"

On the legal limits an employee should be mindful of:

"If an employee posts on a public site and uses the employer’s name, the employer has the right to review the posts – and in fact, the employer should be routinely making sure its name, brand and online reputation are not improperly tarnished.  It is problematic for an employer to be targeting specific employees’ posts (it might be illegal discrimination), but if an employee’s post can be found in a search of the company’s name, the employee should make sure the potential post does not provide a basis for discipline or a possible lawsuit by the employer."

[Related: Can My Boss or Employer Fire Me For Posting on Glassdoor?]

On what's okay and what isn't:

"As a general rule, an employee has the right to post information about his or her wages, hours and working conditions online – and those are very broad categories.  So, general complaints or grievances are protected under federal law (the National Labor Relations Act) and various state laws that protect employees from retaliation for complaining about working conditions.  What is not protected are threats of violence, racial epithets or other hate speech, harassment, or disclosure of trade secrets or confidential information.  The employer may have an obligation to investigate and ensure that other employees and/or its confidential information are protected.

Of lesser importance, but an area where employers are likely to take action, is when employees post false or misleading information on social media sites that they know to be false or are designed to harm the company’s reputation or that of its management employees."

[Related: Submit a Review of Your Company]

On what to be cautious of:

"Finally, an area where employees find themselves in legal hot water is when they post positive information about their employer – but fail to disclose that they are employees.  The Federal Trade Commission has specific regulations about employees disclosing their affiliation with a business if they post positive information online.  Many businesses have been blind-sided with unfair competition lawsuits by competitors because employees were unknowingly trying to “help” the company’s marketing by posting positive information on social media sites, but not disclosing that they are employees."

文章来源：Is It Illegal to Criticize Your Employer on Social Media? - Glassdoor US

阅读上文并完成以下填空练习，每空一个单词：

"what if" is used to ask about something that could happen in the future, especially something bad

如果（尤指糟糕的情况出现）会怎么样?

如

    What if the bus is late?

    要是公共汽车晚点了怎么办？

    What if you don't pass your exams?

    要是考试不及格怎么办？

What if…?的三种用法

一、表示假设

what if 用于提出假设时，意思是“假若……”“假若……怎么办”“要是……将会怎么样”，其后句子可用陈述语气（用一般现在时），也可用虚拟语气（用一般过去时或should+动词原形）。如：

What if she finds out that you’ve lost her book?  如果她发现你把她的书丢了怎么办?

But what if somebody decides to break the rules? 但是如果有人决定打破这些规则呢？

What if it rains when we can’t get under shelter? 假若下起雨来，我们又没处避雨可怎么办?

What if I came tomorrow instead of this afternoon? 我今天下午不来，明天来，怎么样?

What if we stayed at home for a change? 我们改变一下做法，这次呆在家里。怎么样?

What if I should fall sick and not be able to work? 万一我生病不能工作的话怎么办？

从句用虚拟语气时，若是针对过去情况，从句则用过去完成时。如：

What if no one had been there? 假如没有人去过那里的话，会怎么样?

二、表示邀请或建议

What if…表示邀请或建议时，意思是“如果……怎么样？”“如果……如何？”。如：

What if you join us for lunch? 同我们一起吃午饭怎么样？

What if we moved the sofa over here? Would that look better? 要是我们把沙发挪到这边来会怎么样？看上去会不会好一些？

三、表示不重要

此时通常常与so连用，意为“就算……那又怎样？”如：

So what if we’re a little late? 就算我们迟到一会儿那又怎样？

So what if the colours clashed? 就算颜色不协调那又怎样？

So what if he was late. Who cares? 他就是迟到了那又怎样。谁在乎？

So what if nobody else agrees with me? 就算没有一个人赞成我的意见，那又怎么样？

注：若句意清楚，so what if…有时可省略成so what? 如：

A：I’m afraid it’s too expensive. 恐怕太贵了。

B：So what? We’ve plenty of money. 那有什么关系? 我们有的是钱。

A：Someone will see you doing it. 会有人看见做这事的。

B：So what? 看见又怎样?