I really hate my place of employment. Seriously. Okay, first off. They have these stupid little awards that are supposed to boost company morale. So you go and do something ‘spectacular’ (most likely, you’re doing your JOB) and then someone says ‘Why golly, that was spectacular.’ then they sign your name on some paper, they bring you chocolate and some balloons.
Okay two people in the newsroom just got it. FOR DOING THEIR JOB.
I’m sure you can tell, because of the italics, that this isn’t me writing about my wonderful (seriously) job here at the Locke Foundation (although chocolate and balloons probably would have been preferable to that bar of soap last year, John). But that’s OK, too, because there’s always plenty of chocolate around the office.
No, the italicized excerpt was from a blog posted on the personal diary website of Rachel Mosteller, a former Durham Herald-Sun reporter. Like Rachel said in a Washington Post article, “Considering I treated the blog as a smoke break, I didn’t think of it as a problem.”
Turns out that smoking on her break would have been healthier for her job security than blogging, because that post got her fired, despite the fact that she maintained her, her co-workers’, and her employer’s anonymity. Turns out that it might be a trend.
Even if workers write the blog anonymously, an employer may be able to take the position that blogging “is inconsistent with the business mission,” said Jonathan A. Segal, an employment attorney in Philadelphia.
Usually the blogger has little protection. “In most states,” said Gregg M. Lemley, a St. Louis labor lawyer, “if an employer doesn’t like what you’re talking about, they can simply terminate you.”
Excuse me while I step out for a smoke…
