Robert Becker's Case

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1. On June 22, 2010 Robert Becker, a BMW salesman from Knauz Motors was fired for his Facebook posting. Becker complained against his employer to NLRB for unlawful termination and NLRB filed a case on behalf of Becker. Judge found that Knauz Motors was not at fault firing Becker for embarrassing his employer with his Facebook post.
This case consists of two social media incidents. In one incident, Becker posted Facebook posting mocking a corporate sales event for serving cheap food (i.e hot dog) with a caption saying, "I was happy to see that Knauz went 'All Out' for the most important launch of a new BMW in years." The same day he put another Facebook post of an accident at a neighboring Land Rover dealership, which happen to be owned by same Knauz Group, showing a picture of Land Rover in the pond and the caption says, "This is your car. This is your car on drugs." Becker deleted both the posts later after being requested by his employer.
NLRB alleged that Knauz cannot fire Becker for his online comments, because his comments are "protected concerted activity". Before Becker went online he and other sales agents discussed how poor food quality in a corporate sales event will send wrong message to prospective customers and hence will …show more content…
In my current work environment, a case like this would worsen interpersonal relations between management and employees. Employees would feel threatened, as if they will be walking on eggshells. I think if the EMT was provided the correct training on how to properly fill out the incident report, and communicated with her boss openly, this case could have been diplomatically resolved. Having a trusting relationship with your team, including your boss, can increase moral in the work place. This case sets the tone on the importance of how employees should follow company policy and understanding disciplinary actions. Since this was a first case regarding firing using Facebook, this case will be used as a precedent for other
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