Monday, April 02, 2007

Workplace Blogging is OK

James Richards has just posted his paper on work related blogs. It is timely because today The Telegraph reports that an Englishwoman sacked for bringing her employers in Paris into disrepute by writing an internet diary under the pseudonym petite anglaise was awarded £30,000 for wrongful dismissal yesterday.

'Petite anglaise' Catherine Sanderson
Catherine Sanderson: 'It's really fantastic to be vindicated like this'
In a test case for bloggers in France and beyond, a tribunal concluded that Catherine Sanderson, whose blog is said by some to be the equivalent of "Bridget Jones in Paris", had been dismissed "without real and serious causes".

Her former employer, the British accountancy firm Dixon Wilson, was ordered to pay 34-year-old Miss Sanderson 44,000 euros in compensation plus 500 euros in legal fees, and to reimburse the French benefits office the equivalent of six months of wages.

Meantime, The Register reports that Blogging is part of the job.

Last week, Sony BMG UK issued a new corporate marketing strategy.

According to an official release from the group, Ged Doherty, chairman and chief executive of SonyBMG in UK and Ireland, said the company "has made it obligatory for all senior staff at both Columbia Records and RCA Records to start blogging actively".

So what happens to staff who refuse to toe the corporate line, or perhaps fail to produce the required quantity of blog blather?

The Register had to find out.

The employment lawyers are going to get rich on this.

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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:00 pm

    You're right that the lawyers will get rich. At the recent IPRRC conference in Miami, Sam Terrilli and colleagues from the University of Miami presented a paper on Corporate Blogs. To quote "One may not assume that blogs, though appealing as public relations tools, are protected First Amendment speech, partially protected commercial speech or even third-party independent speech without a specific analysis of the form and content of each and an assessment of established legal principles". Although they were referring to the US situation, most of the legal principles apply widely. In summary, blogs with even remote links to a corporate entity are in the firing line.

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  2. David Phillips12:37 pm

    For the PR practitioner, one should not rely on the law alone. Often it is far too blunt an instrument. Far far better if the practitioner is to be aware of, and develops risk analysis and response to resolve, such issues.

    Of course, this does mean that the practitioner has to stand up to the lawyers.

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