Cam works as a partner at a law firm in Detroit where he focuses on cases involving media law. Sue is now focusing more on teaching, but she also used to work at a law firm and focused on issues involving the first amendment. In addition, they both teach media law during the fall semesters at Oakland University.

One aspect the duo spoke about that was particularly interesting involved rights of employees.

The National Labor Relations Board deals mostly with unions and management, but does cover all employees as well. They decided a long time ago that employees have the right to gather and complain about working conditions without the risk of being fired. Before the Internet was what it is today, this was common to happen in the lunch room or while employees were on their breaks. Now with Facebook and Twitter, it’s not uncommon to find people expressing their distaste for their workplace on social networks.

In May of 2011 an employee of a BMW dealership in Chicago posted a status update and photos on his Facebook that described how unsatisfied he was with the quality of food served at an event the dealership was having. Other employees had access to the post and at least one of them commented, agreeing with the original post’s content.

When the dealership caught wind of the posts they asked the employee to remove them, which he immediately did. Regardless, they still decided to terminate him soon after. The employee filed a complaint stating that his Facebook activity was protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.

Unfortunately for the employee, the ruling decided that it was not a wrongful termination on behalf of the dealership, but that their employee policy was extremely broad — and also changed prior to the hearing. The judge ruled that the dealership post a notice for their employees detailing their rights to engage in protected concerted activity.

“It’s emotional, it’s responsive, it’s quick … if you put it online, it’s there forever,” Cam Evans said in regards to Facebook and similar social media platforms. For any type of journalist it’s a decent reminder, and something one should keep in the back of their mind.