There is no denying that Facebook and Twitter are the modern versions of the office watercooler, with more office gossip and news being exchanged via 140-character Tweets and Facebook updates than face-to-face. Unfortunately, these changes in the ways we interact with others, including our colleagues, have occurred too quickly for employers to keep pace. The results have been often sticky situations involving employees who vented their anger on Facebook or Twitter and were punished for it.

The number of complaints filed with the National Labor Relations Board has increased to 100 this year, and most of these complaints are related to what employees have posted on social media platforms. Considering the sudden explosion of social media, Los Angeles employment lawyers have not found it surprising that even the National Labor Relations Board seems unsure about the decorum governing employee use of social media.

In one complaint, a BMW salesman went on Facebook to complain that his employer had served stale food at a car launch event, and was promptly fired. However, the National Labor Relations Board found that the man's comments were protected because he was expressing concerns about his job, and these comments had been shared in person with other employees of the firm.

In other cases, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled against employees. An Indiana emergency transportation company employee lost her job after she posteda complaint on the Facebook wall of Senator Dick Lugar that her employer underpaid wages and this compromised the quality of care. The Board declined to take up her case because the employee failed to discuss her complaints with management, and did not discuss her complaint with other employees at her workplace.

Los Angeles employment lawyers believe that it will take many more months, if not years, for all the dust surrounding social media to settle down, and for businesses to set established guidelines governing employee use of social media.