From Fortune:

Elon Musk’s X Corp has the right to fire an employee over her social media posts protesting Musk’s return-to-office policy, a US labor board judge has been told.

In response, the company’s attorney, David Broderdorf, has described the complaint as “dead on arrival” and “a no-brainer,” rejecting claims that the firing violated federal law prohibiting retaliation for protests by employees.

The dispute rose in November 2022, when Musk had just bought Twitter and instructed workers to return to the office. In response, employee Yao Yue, who read Musk’s comments, posted her own comments encouraging fellow workers to stay and let Musk fire them. She was fired a few days later.

Now, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) hearing is underway in San Francisco, in response to the agency’s first-ever complaint against X Corp. alleging that its firing of the employee violated the federal law prohibiting retaliation for workplace protests.

X’s lawyer told the agency judge at the hearing that Yue did not merit protection under the law because she was legally a supervisor. He also claimed that in any case, her comments constituted a call for insubordination, rather than a mere protest against company policy.

The agency is arguing that Yue did not hold a management position when she posted her comments, and that there was nothing insubordinate about what she said. Their attorney argued that her comments were not telling people to refuse to follow rules, but advising them not to resign.

The NLRB, which has authority to order policies changed and fired activists reinstated with back pay, but not to make companies pay punitive damages, is looking to ascertain the employer’s actions in this dispute. The outcome of the hearing is critical as it could have far-reaching implications for how workers’ rights in protest situations are viewed.



Read more: Was Elon Musk right to fire an X/Twitter employee over an X post protesting return-to-office?