May an Employer Fire an Employee for Publicly Criticizing Management?

As with many legal questions, the answer to the question in the title is “it depends.” It depends on the circumstances, nature and subject matter of the criticism. It can also depend on whom you ask, such as in a recent case where both an administrative law judge and the National Labor Relations Board ruled that the employer had unlawfully fired an employee for critical comments about management. But when a federal court reviewed the case, the NLRB was overturned and the employer's right to fire the employee was upheld.