---
title: NLRB Rules that Employers Can Bar Union Use of Employer Email Systems
date: 2008-01-08T00:00:00-05:00
author: Import Bot
canonical_url: "https://www.kelleydrye.com/viewpoints/client-advisories/nlrb-rules-that-employers-can-bar-union-use-of-employer-email-systems"
section: Client Advisories
---
# NLRB Rules that Employers Can Bar Union Use of Employer Email Systems

  January 8, 2008

Kelley Drye Client Advisory

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a positive development for employers – whether their workforces or unionized or not – the National Labor Relations Board has definitively held that an employer may prohibit a union, or employees seeking to solicit or organize for a union, from using company email systems to communicate.

#### What This Decision Means to You

You can rest easy, knowing that you can lawfully control access to your email systems, keeping it from being wielded as a weapon by a union seeking to organize your work force. The decision also clarifies when an employer could be found to have engaged in ​“discriminatory enforcement” of an email policy.Here are some steps you should take: (1) Review and update your email policies (2) Educate your employees and (3) Enforce your policy consistency.

 

 

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