Dive Brief:

• The business world is saturated with coverage of the low-paid Yelp! employee who was fired after complaining publicly online about her lousy wages and rough living conditions.
• But the episode does bring up an interesting employment law angle: Is Talia Jane's plea for higher wages protected by federal law? A post at the Ohio Employer Law Blog notes Jane might be able to sue Yelp for its quick decision to axe her thanks to the National Labor Relations Act, which allows employees to engage in protected concerted activity without fear of retribution by employers.
• The aricle weighs both sides of the issue, noting that for her letter/speech to be protected, it had to indicate her intent was to speak out for more than just herself when she blasted her employer for paying her such low wages she could barely afford to eat. Was her intent to get others to join in the conversation?

Dive Insight:

The Law Blog article makes a very fascinating point. By the very nature of social media and the Internet, she could already be engaging in "concerted activity." And if that's the case, Yelp might have jumped the gun firing her so quickly, despite their company policy. She also mentions struggling co-workers in one of her comments, suc has how they need to take second jobs, use crowd-funding, etc., to make ends meet.

As the blog post notes, employers should not rush to terminate in cases where workers use online forums to speak out. Indeed, this saga may be far from over.