Oh my gosh!  Can I be fired for doing what I’m doing right now?  Of course.  Click here for a summary (perhaps rant is the right word) about the recent firing of a CNN producer for having a blog.  Written by the fired producer (who is mad as fire), it’s not very employer-friendly, but it raises some points worthy of consideration by all employers.  Why?  Every employer has employees who are doing what I’m doing right now and what this fired producer was (and still is) doing.

While I can’t say it’s unlawful to fire someone for having a blog which is maintained on an employee’s home computer, is never accessed at work by the employee, has nothing whatsoever to do with the employee’s job, and never contains the slightest mention of the employer, I can say you probably shouldn’t fire someone for that.  I mean, what’s the point?  Why not fire him for going to the movies?  Eating fast food?  Reading books?  Maybe if the guy is a CIA operative, you don’t want him on the Internet even under an assumed name, but most of our employees aren’t CIA operatives.

If an employee has a personal blog that he’s spending time at work fooling with and won’t stop after you’ve told him he can’t do that at work, that’s different.  It’s worth noting that some employees could be encouraged to blog at work.  It wouldn’t surprise me if this is the case with Google.  But most employers don’t want their employees using company time on a blog, and that’s fine.

If an employee’s personal blog is never used at work but contains plenty of stuff about what a terrible employer the blogger works for, you don’t have to put up with that.  It’s up to you whether you give the employee a warning before you can him.  That will probably depend on exactly what has been posted on the blog.  If the employee is posting confidential information about the employer, firing the employee is a no-brainer.

But employment law as applied to the blogosphere contains a lot of grey matter.  What about:  the employee who does no blogging at work but blogs on and on about his sex life; the employee who posts pictures of himself at wild parties; the employee who posts erotic poetry on his blog; the employee whose blog takes up a cause like abortion (pro-life or pro-choice); the employee who blogs about the legalization of marijuana; the employee whose blog advocates civil disobedience when it comes to paying income taxes: and so on and so forth?  If the blogger is known to be your employee, you’d probably prefer that he shut down the blog.  Free speech concerns?  No–at least, not in the private sector and, depending on the blog content, not in the public sector as well.  Generally speaking, you have a lot of flexibility when it comes to this sort of thing.  You should use common sense.  You should be reasonable.  But you get to decide what is good or not good for your business.

I think it’s a good idea to have a written policy on this–not just blogging, but something that applies to Internet use which can include blogging.  Sit down with your lawyer.  Get input from a diverse group of employees.  Look at what other companies are doing.  Talk through the above scenarios and many others you will think of.  You won’t think of everything, but you will come up with something that sets parameters for your employees.  Once you’ve written it and distributed it, be consistent, consistent, consistent in enforcing it.

And now back to the former CNN producer.  He had good reviews.  There was talk of advancement.  His identity wasn’t disclosed on the blog.  He never blogged about CNN or what he was working on.  He wasn’t given a warning before he was fired.  He’d been blogging for quite a while, and his blog was widely read.  It’s likely that any organization like CNN has a bunch of bloggers, yet he seemed to be singled out.

Tough luck.  People finally figured out his identity.  A self-described rebel, he was writing about controversial subjects.  CNN had a handbook that required any writing for a non-CNN outlet to be approved by the network’s standards and practices department.  He was in the news business, and, in my opinion, it was reasonable for his employer to be concerned about opinions he was expressing for the world to read.  If you employ a shoe salesman, do you want him to have a blog that encourages people to go barefoot?  If you publish a magazine that promotes environmentally friendly products, do you want one of your writers to have a blog (even if set up anonymously) that calls climate change and global warming myths?  It is better for a warning to be given before a discharge in most situations, but it’s not absolutely necessary.

A cautionary note.  The scorned CNN producer makes it clear that he will use the new media of blogging to embarrass the mainstream media (which would include CNN I suppose), hurt the mainstream media, and hold the mainstream media accountable in every way.  Here’s the thing.  Sometimes, employers who fire employees for blogging may later regret it.  Do you remember Ellen Simonetti, the Delta flight attendant who was fired for posting suggestive photos of herself on her blog several years ago.  Sometimes called the Queen of Sky, she still has a blog called Diary of a Flight Attendant, and let’s just say (click here) she still calls attention to the problems of Delta and the airline industry. 

A lot of fired bloggers do that, so in other words, if you didn’t like what the employee was blogging about when you fired him, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.   And there’s not much you can do about it as long as the employee isn’t using confidential information about you.  So–have a clear policy, apply it consistently, give the employee a chance to change his ways, and then, if necessary, try to part company amicably.  Otherwise, do what you think you have to do, and get ready to be blog-flogged.