## Facts

- Purple Communications, Inc. operated call centers providing video relay sign-language interpreting services.
- The employer maintained an electronic communications policy limiting use of company email and related systems to “business purposes only” and barring use for non-business organizations and certain personal emails.
- A union sought to represent interpreters at multiple facilities; representation elections were conducted.
- After the elections, the union filed objections and an unfair labor practice charge alleging the email policy interfered with employees’ NLRA §7 rights and affected election conditions.
- An Administrative Law Judge, applying then-controlling Board precedent, found the policy lawful.
- The NLRB granted review to reconsider that precedent and the legality of the policy.

## Issues

1. Whether employees who are granted access to an employer’s email system for work have a right under NLRA §7 to use that email system for protected concerted activity during nonworking time.
2. Whether the Board should overrule prior precedent holding employees have no statutory right to use an employer’s email system for §7 purposes.
3. What standard governs an employer’s restriction of employee email use for §7 activity and whether an employer may justify restrictions by showing “special circumstances.”

## Decision

- The Board (3–2) overruled prior precedent to the extent it categorically denied any statutory right to use employer email for §7 purposes.
- The Board held that, when an employer gives employees access to its email system for work, employees are presumptively entitled to use email for §7-protected communications on nonworking time.
- The presumption may be rebutted only if the employer shows special circumstances making the restriction necessary to maintain production or discipline; such circumstances were described as rare.
- The rule was limited to (i) email (not all employer IT resources), (ii) employees already granted email access for work, and (iii) nonworking time.
- The Board remanded to allow the employer to present evidence of special circumstances under the new standard rather than finally adjudicating the policy’s lawfulness.
- Dissenting members would have retained the earlier approach, emphasizing employer property interests and the availability of alternative communication channels.

## Legal Principles

- Employees’ §7 right to engage in protected concerted activity includes the right to communicate effectively with coworkers in the workplace about self-organization and working conditions.
- Where employees have work-related access to an employer’s email system, employer bans on §7-related email use during nonworking time are presumptively unlawful absent special circumstances.
- “Special circumstances” must show the restriction is necessary to maintain production or discipline; generalized property or managerial interests are insufficient.
- Employers may enforce rules to maintain productivity during working time and may adopt nondiscriminatory monitoring and security measures for legitimate management purposes.
- Employers may state employees have no expectation of privacy in employer email, but may not apply monitoring or discipline in a discriminatory manner against §7 communications.

## Conclusion

The Board established a rebuttable presumption that employees who have work access to employer email may use it on nonworking time for NLRA §7-protected communications, permitting restrictions only when the employer proves special circumstances necessary to maintain production or discipline, and remanded for application of the new standard.


Purple Commc’ns, Inc., 361 N.L.R.B. No. 126 (2014)