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The Repercussions of Blogging
hende_jman writes "How much should you be allowed to say in a public blog? There's an article on CNN that looks at different situations in which people have been fired for blogging about their company. The main issue brought seems not to be one of a lack of trust (blogs, after all, are most often public), but rather a lack of policy outlining repercussions for negative blogging about one's company."
Unless you work for;
* military
Yes, its real hard to get sacked there.
Well, the military fires people on a regular basis - for officers, two fail to promotes and your out (unless you have made 04 where you're assured 20 years of service)
Enlisted memebrs can be refused re-enlistment as well.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Ellen Simonetti's blog, mentioned in the CNN article as having "suggestive photographs of [her] in uniform," dies a slow horrible death...
I believe this extends to private companies in Canada. Unless they have due cause, they can't just fire you. They can lay you off because they don't need you anymore, but if they're caught re-hiring someone with your skill set in the immediate future after laying you off, they're fucked.
You see a lot of jobs up here that are just under 35 hours a week up here, because part-time employees don't recieve the same protections. Instead of 3 employees working full time, you hire 4 to work 30 hrs a week and you can screw them over to your hearts content.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
While I would agree with your main point anyway, I just thought I would point out that this isn't such a good argument since, in 49 states of the U.S. (Montana being the sole exception), you can be fired from your job at any time, for any reason at all (except for illegal reasons, like firing because of gender, race, national origin, etc., or if you have a union or other employment contract). You employer can fire you for writing porn, whether the writing was done on or off of the job -- it's not a freedom of speech issue, it an "at-will" employment issue...
"That's not even wrong..." -- Wolfgang Pauli
Just FYI, an action for retaliatory firing is limited to retaliating for the following:
1. Attempting to exercise your rights under the Family Medical Leave Act;
2. Whistleblowers (but it has to be whistleblowing as defined under the applicable statutes, and not just you talking about stuff going on at work);
3. Reporting safety violations under OSHA or applicable state laws.
There are some other causes of action for retaliatory firing that differ from state to state, but these are the biggies, and firing someone from venting a company's dirty laundry on the net is not protected in any state...
"That's not even wrong..." -- Wolfgang Pauli
1. be anonymous or use an alias
2. avoid using personally related specifics
3. be ready to accept the consequences of being id'd
bloging about where you work in your own name breaks all three of these.
fwiw, an interesting historical fact is that the founding fathers used aliases when submitting letters to the colonial newspapers advocating revolution against england -- for obvious reasons. these days most newspapers will not accept letters without verification of identity, which is one reason online commentary is more popular and expresses more risky opinions.