Dive Brief:

• Can being happy at work be mandatory? The answer is a clear-cut no, according to a report from the Huffington Post. A late April ruling from the National Labor Relations Board laid out why employers cannot expect and require employees to be constantly positive at work. 
• The case revolves around wireless carrier T-Mobile’s employee handbook, which had a clause about positivity that in part said, “[e]mployees are expected to maintain a positive work environment by communicating in a manner that is conducive to effective working relationships with internal and external customers, clients, co-workers, and management.” 
• The Communications Workers of America, which represents T-Mobile workers, took it to the NLRB three years ago. The board ruled said that requiring employees to maintain a “positive work environment” is too restrictive. The thinking is that because a workplace is often contentious, it's impossible to keep workers from disagreements.

Dive Insight

According to the NLRB, a positive workplace may be great for business and employee engagement (which studies show to be true), but it may not always be good for the workers themselves, who have a right to be unhappy with their jobs. The NLRB's decision, according to Huffington Post, is about protecting the right to organize, which typically means controversy and negativity.

Employers are forbidden by law to stop workers from organizing, meaning they also can't prevent workers from being unhappy. The NLRB ruling says: "Because labor disputes and union organizing efforts frequently involve controversy, criticism of the employer, arguments, and less-than-'positive' statements about terms and conditions of employment, employees reading the rule here would reasonably steer clear of a range of potentially controversial but protected communication in the workplace for fear of running afoul of the rule."

Check your handbooks and make sure you are encouraging but not "expecting" happiness and positivity from your workers. But of course, treating employees well regardless goes a long way.