Restaurant chain Chipotle has come under fire from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for instituting practices that could chill employee’s collective 
bargaining rights. The NLRB’s landmark ruling could have an impact on other workers wishing to make certain comments about their employers on social media.

The board took issue with 
several of Chipotle’s policies including its confidentiality agreement, its prohibition on employees discussing politics or religion in public and its ethical communication policy that instructs workers to avoid exaggeration or colorful language when discussing people.

Chipotle’s battle with the 80-year-old National Labor Relations Act began after a Pennsylvania Chipotle store manager ordered an employee to delete tweets critical of the company’s practices. In the tweets, employee James Kennedy criticized how the company pays its workers and deals with customers. When a confrontation with management led to his firing, Kennedy took his case to the NLRB.

In a press statement given after the ruling, Kennedy’s attorney, Michael Healey, said that his case was an instance of “federal labor law catching up to social media.”

Chipotle currently has two Tuscaloosa locations; one on University Boulevard and one McFarland.