She annoys the hell out of me, can you tell?
]]>Now please note that I am not talking about an incident in particular, because I probably do not know enough.
But, can we say that people got fired because they expressed themselves inappropiately, without sensitivity to context?
Its not really about blogging with all the weight we carry that term today, I suspect. Most firings of this type would be about the message conveyed, which the employer deem should be censored. Should the same message be made public in alternative channels, similarly knee-jerk action on the part of the employer would probably have happened too.
Has anyone ever been fired for just having a blog and posting items unrelated to work to it outside of work hours? Not that I've come across.
Has anyone been fired for what they've written on their blog? Absolutely.
If that's the distinction you're trying to make, I think it's a fairly pedantic one.
]]>If you look at the employment cases decided to date (not about "blogging" specifically, but more generally)you will find many cases where people have been terminated for such things as (a) missuse of Company time (ie. spending work time on non-work related activities, whether surfing the net, blogging or conducting a "side business") (b) disclosing confidential or sensitive business information (c) making public comments of a nature that would be harmful to their employers' interests or reputation (d) using employer resources, including technology, for an improper purpose or in contravention of an employer policy (e) sending email from work that are offensive or threatening (f) engaging in off duty behaviour or conduct that is inconsistent with continued employment. These are some off the top thoughts.
All this is to say that, at least at this point, employees who "blog" are accountable for what they do and say in the same way that they always have been. They do not, in other words, have any additional rights or priviledges by reason of the medium they use to communicate their thoughts or views (at least from an employment perspective).
]]>I think you'd agree, however, that some employers have dredged up a blogger's past posts as the excuse when they fired someone.
]]>It's not like they're getting fired for telling humorous stories about their cat or their weekend trip.
]]>More because of the subject matters I wrote about (read: work-related angst with first and last names) than because of the blogging act per se. Some people just don't like facing the truth.
The company tanked three months after I was fired anyway.
Suffice it to say that I know better than vent internal work issues on a public blog these days.
]]>However, I once worked for an employer (long before I blogged) who was just paranoid enough that he might well have come down on someone who just innocently mentioned his company. Having worked (briefly) for someone like him, it's not hard to imagine that someone might hear of some employee blogging and say "they've got one of those things? Get rid of 'em." without too much more thought. People have been dismissed for less, with less thought.
]]>About signing an NDA...I didn't sign one when I started work at my former employer (just a W-2 and a requisition for a desk key), and to this day, there's still no clear-cut definitions in said company's employee handbook which discourages the pursuing of outside projects on company time. But you can get fired if you're caught dating a co-worker. Weirdness.
]]>By the way, this Textarea is drifting as a type... I feel a little sea sick.
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