Proceed With Caution When Firing Employees for Criticizing Management

Recently, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that a company violated the National Labor Relations Act when it terminated an employee for criticizing an executive's salary. The employee believed his and other engineers' workloads were excessive. At a team meeting, he suggested to a company director that the organization should focus on hiring more engineers to alleviate workload rather than paying a new executive $400,000 annually. Several of his coworkers expressed agreement with his comment. The employee subsequently was discharged and filed an unfair labor charge.