Business & Tech
Metro Detroit Case Could Have Far-Reaching Effects on Workers' Social Media Use
The National Labor Relations Board said Quicken Loans' employee handbook goes too far in restricting employees' free speech.
A free speech issue at a Metro Detroit employer could change how companies across the country regulate employees’ comments on social media sites.
At issue is Quicken Loans’ employee handbook, which the National Labor Relations Board says is overly restrictive in regulating what workers can say about their pay and benefits, the Detroit Free Press reports.
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The NLRB declined to take the alleged wrongful termination case of Hugh MacEachern, 61, of Taylor, a former employee who claimed he had been fired in December 2014 after telling Quicken he was speaking with the Communications Workers of America about starting a union at the company. MacEachern had worked as a temporary worker at Quicken Loans, the nation’s second-largest mortgage lender, for several months until he was hired full-time in July 2013.
But the NLRB did say the Big Book, as Quicken’s handbook is known, goes too far in restricting what workers can say to the media and other conduct the company deems damaging to its interests.
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“Quicken Loans stands firmly behind its common-sense employment policies ... Quicken Loans will fight this baseless case and strongly believes justice will prevail,” Aaron Emerson, a spokesman for Quicken, said, calling the complaint “completely absurd.”
Marick Masters, a professor and director of labor studies at Wayne State University, told the Free Press the NLRB takes “a pretty dim view of policies that are over-broad.”
“If you tell an employee that they can’t complain to other employees about their working conditions, you’re going to get in trouble for that,” Masters said. “If you tell an employee that they can’t talk to people on the outside about their working conditions, you’re going to get in trouble for that.”
The NLRB’s complaint about the employee handbook is set to go before an administrative law judge on Nov. 2
» Quicken Loans press photo of its building at 1001 Woodward Ave. in downtown Detroit.
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