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Employer settles with Facebooker who called boss 'dick'

Social network = public forum

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An ambulance company in Connecticut has agreed to settle a case that challenged its decision to fire an employee for posting comments on Facebook that referred to her boss as a “dick” and a “scumbag.”

American Medical Response said it would revise its rules to make clear they don't prevent employees from discussing wages, hours and working conditions with co-workers during non-work hours. The company also promised to honor employee requests for union representation when meeting with managers.

The agreement settles a complaint brought in October by the National Labor Relations Board that claimed AMR's firing of Dawnmarie Souza was illegal. She was dismissed in December of 2009, one month after she posted the derogatory remarks about the boss to her Facebook wall.

The case touched on whether workers have the right to criticize supervisors in internet forums. While there are plenty of reasons employees may want to keep their work gripes to themselves, the outcome seems to suggest employers, at least those in the US, may want to proceed with caution. ®

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Oh really?

There was a time when discretion was the better part of valour. Now we have a class of people who think it is perfectly acceptable to libel and slander people without any repercussions, and another class of idiots who seem to think they own their employees and what their employees do out of works hours is somehow their business. Both stupid, uncouth and crass, they deserve each each other.

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yanks....

this is kinda stupid. slag off your boss in a public place and what do you expect? i bet the guy will be up when the next round of redundancies hits.

we are in a global recession, jobs are scarce, why the hell slag off your boss where he/she can read it?

why do americans seem to not think they are responsible for their actions? just like the woman who fell into a water feature in a mall and is now suing for all the 'mental trauma' as everyone thinks she is a tool. get a grip.

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Hmm

Separation of personal and professional lives, anyone?

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