In Connecticut, Dawnmarie Souza a woman working for ambulance service was fired for making negative comments on her Facebook page about her bosses. She was fired on the grounds that her comments violated the company's Internet Posting Policy. The court ruled that this policy was a "unlawful" due to the National Labor Relations Act, which gives employees the right to discuss "the terms and conditions of their employment with others."
This case raises the question about social network, being a bad thing for business. I think that the firing of Mrs. Souza was unlawful and employees should not face punishment for their actions on social network sites. In America you have the right to be critical and speak your mind about our President and our government. If we have the right to do these things, making comments about a boss on a social network site should not effect our employment, nor should anyone get fired because of actions like this. If we can be critical of our leaders and our government, we should also have to right to speak our mind on a social network site.
Social media has exploded in last five years and isn't slowing down anytime soon. The business world was smart to jump in and use this tool to their benefit, but not all things are good for business with social media. The purpose of this blog is open that conversation of what is good, what is bad, what works, what doesn't work, and how this new tool social media can used.
I completely agree that it was unlawful for Souza to get fired in this case. The reason that I agree is because her negative comments were made towards an individual rather than the company as a whole. Not allowing people to speak about individual people in this way seems to be a violation of the First Amendment. However, if her comment were made towards the company as a whole, she should have gotten fired. When you are an employee, I think it is fair to agree that you will not post in a way that will put the company in a negative light and cause possible damages.
ReplyDeleteStill, it is very hard to draw this line. At what point are you causing damages for a company? For some companies, like an ambulance service, is it really worth it to partake in social media? Is it worth the risks for this service to engage in social media?
I think that maybe they should have spoken to her about it before firing her, but I don't think it was unlawful for her to be fired. She was saying bad things about her boss, which probably made the company look bad. It's okay for her to say it to friends or family but I don't think she should have put it on Facebook. If I owned a company and one of my employees was saying negative things about me or my company I would fire them too. Obviously she wasn't happy working for him anyway. It kind of seems a little harsh but it's just like in an interview - you don't say bad things about your current boss or the potential one will think you might say those kinds of things about them.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what people need to realize that they represent the company they work for at all times, and if they don't positively represent them then maybe they should look for a new job.