Comments on: Sprint to fire any employee that blogs or writes anywhere online

By: Should Company Policy Require Employees Use Full and Accurate Names when Posting? - Rob Enderle

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:58:27 +0000

[...] Actually that isn’t necessarily true. For instance if a person makes racist or sexist comments in public (which isn’t inherently illegal) they can, depending on the state, be terminated. In most states there are conditions that allow you to terminate without cause and this would probably fall into that area. What you are trying to limit is not free speech but inappropriate behavior. If people know that simply concealing their identity can result in termination they are more likely to give extra thought to what they say and less likely to say something that could get them and their company in trouble. A landlord is not an employer and the rights granted are vastly different, however, landlords can, with notice, (depending on the state and local ordinances) evict without cause if they give proper notice. Employers can fire, without cause, in most states. You can even be fired if you smoke on or off the job if that is spelled out as a requirement. Here in the States Employment is At-Will and that gives the employer substantial latitude. References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2005-05-11-smoke-usat_x.htm?csp=N009http://abcnews.go.com/2020/GiveMeABreak/story?id=650390&page=1http://www.tinyscreenfuls.com/2007/02/sprint-to-fire-any-employee-that-blogs-or-writes-anywhere-onli…http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-06-14-worker-blogs-usat_x.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termination_of_employment [...]

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 22:34:41 +0000

What if you have a personal blog and never talk about Sprint, or don’t mention that you work for Sprint? Can you still get fired? Can they even do this?

I blog, but never mention where I work, or talk about stuff that goes on at work. We don’t have a blogger policy at work or even people that monitor what is said about my particular work place on-line.

By: Dave Beauvais

Dave Beauvais — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 18:51:26 +0000

Obviously we haven't seen the policy, but what I've read thus far seems to be very vague. It's being reported as though Sprint employees can't do anything online at all, not just things where proprietary or damaging information is being disseminated. So I with my own personal Web site could not post to it about anything if I worked for Sprint? Sorry, but that can't possibly be legal. I would love to see something like this stand up against the first amendment in court. If the policy applies only to people who leak product, service, or other internal information, I could support that, but the way this is being reported so far is just far too broad.

By: Cailin Coilleach

Cailin Coilleach — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 07:28:23 +0000

Wow, that’s a little over the top!

My standard contract with my employer includes an NDA covering all the work I do for our clients. However, everyone seems to be pretty lenient when it comes to spreading information on technical stuff that might be useful for everyone: monitoring scripts, Unix advice, stuff like that.

Either that, or it’s just a matter of letting sleeping dogs lie.

By: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Sprint firing any employee who blogs or writes anywhere online