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The Corporate CounselorLJN NewslettersNewsSections

Lawful Social Media Policy

By Anna Hickman
July 30, 2012

In July 2011, a Walmart greeter, who listed Walmart as his employer on his Facebook page, made the following posts on his Facebook wall:

The government needs to step in and set a limit on how many kids people are allowed to have based on their income. If you can't afford to feed them you shouldn't be allowed to have them. ' Our population needs to be controlled! In my neck of the woods when the whitetail deer get to be too numerous we thin them out! ' Just go to your nearest big box store and start picking them off. ' We cater too much to the handicapped nowadays! Hell, if you can't walk, why don't you stay the f**k home!!!!

Shortly thereafter, a customer read the posts and contacted Walmart to complain that she found the comments so frightening that she did not think she could return to the store. The customer also characterized the comments as “beyond disturbing,” considering a fatal shooting that occurred approximately a year before in the same store.

Walmart promptly investigated the incident and terminated the greeter's employment. The greeter then challenged his termination under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), alleging that his Facebook posts were protected “concerted activity.”

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