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I Was Just Fired for Blogging


I guess I’m a sucker for punishment. Or publicity. Or something.

I was just fired for blogging. Or, more specifically “divulging company secrets in a public space”. No details provided. My “severance” is what my pay would have been up until I left.

Sadly, it doesn’t include pager, so I’m out 2,000$ and it doesn’t extend my benefits so I can’t get the dental surgery I’d planned for next week.

I’m not sure if I should fight this. There isn’t a big enough precedent to know. Anyone know a good (cheap) lawyer I can talk to?

In the meantime… I feel like I’ve been in a car accident. I know it happened. I know what it means. But I have no idea what happened or what it means.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 5th, 2005, 9:54 am and is filed under Blogging, From My Life, Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  1. #1 by Meli - January 6th, 2005 at 17:39

    All I can say is that I am stunned and speechless.

  2. #2 by Tom Hanna - January 7th, 2005 at 01:28

    And you didn’t even post racy photos in your flight attendant uniform. I hope.

    Seriously, your new business is off and running. If you want to make a go of a business, it needs to be a full time effort. Make some lemonade out of this thing.

  3. #3 by Cameron Reilly - January 7th, 2005 at 16:50

    Jeremy, I’ve been through something like this in the last year (I wasn’t actually fired but was getting an inordinant amount of pressure from my employer to stop blogging OR ELSE) and I found a good labour lawyer (in Australia) who successfully fought my case. It was worth it to get legal assistance, even though it cost a bomb. It made me more than it cost me. Here’s what I’d recommend: get a copy of your employment agreement, and copies of their termination letter to you and then find the BIGGEST, NASTIEST industrial relations law firm you can in your area. And have one meeting with them to assess your case. If they want to take it on, ask them to work on a fee-for-success basis. The biggest thing I learned from my experience was the value of a good lawyer. It took all of the emotional pressure off of me. I knew that if there was a positive outcome to be had, my lawyer would find and maximize it.

    In retrospect, it was the best thing that happened to me. Forced me to go out on my own. I’m confident you will feel the same way 12 months from now.

    Good luck!
    Cameron

  4. #4 by Andrea - January 7th, 2005 at 16:55

    I went through a wrongful dismissal suit a few years ago. I had been lured away from my existing job by a dot-com. The day before I was due to start, they emailed me and told me they needed to delay my start date by one month. A couple of weeks later, it became evident that they weren’t going to bring me (or the other six new hires) on board. So I sued in Small Claims for wrongful dismissal, since I’d been fired without cause. Even though I had not worked a day for the company, they caused me to give up a good job and end up unemployed. I was able to get a settlement for one month’s salary AND I was able to convince HRDC that it was wrongful dismissal, not firing for cause (this meant I qualified for EI). You may want to contact HRDC to ask for information on wrongful dismissal. Although I got some information from initital consultations with lawyers, I was able to defend myself.

  5. #5 by Johnnie Moore - January 8th, 2005 at 04:30

    It was interesting to hear of Cameron’s experience… not least because it worked well for him. My experience is that a firm with a reputation for nastiness can be nasty not merely to opponents but also to its own clients. I would not judge a firm’s competence by its size either. And I would always get at least two different opinions and compare firms before appointing them.

  6. #6 by negocio - January 8th, 2005 at 10:12

    Hi Jeremy, sorry to hear the news.

    I suggest you look into this matter. I believe you’ll get a get lawyer from your blogosphere to assist you. Geoffrey

  7. #7 by Gautam - January 10th, 2005 at 06:30

    Hey Jeremy,

    Really sad to hear this..

    I guess you could ask for your HR guy to respond to your demand for information on this policy.

    I am not very conversant with US/Canadian labour law, but in India some companies say that any company information you share can get you fired…without warning…so you’ve got to check if you signed any such document and also what is the instance of that violation…

    All the best on your other company….godspeed and good luck !

    regards
    Gautam

  8. #8 by Tejas Patel - January 10th, 2005 at 20:28

    Jeremy, good luck with your life ahead.

  9. #9 by David St Lawrence - January 18th, 2005 at 01:01

    Jeremy, take this incident as a blessing in disguise.

    A repressive company environment is not good for you and you will do better elsewhere. I am sure that there were indicators of this kind of treatment which you may have ignored because you were getting your work dome.

    Any outside creative activity can be a target for those whose game is playing office politics rather than getting work out.

    Figure out what your next job is going to be and don’t waste time trying to fight your dismissal. I’ve been there and done that and it is generally a waste of time. Keep networking until your friends and associates hook you up with somebody that needs your skills.

    Good luck!

  10. #10 by Jon Berg - January 20th, 2005 at 00:00

    Sorry to hear that you got fired. Don’t feel down I’m sure you will get a new job fast if you are not going for blogging 24/7. You are a tallented guy.

  11. #11 by James - January 20th, 2005 at 00:22

    I think it’d be very interesting to see how well he could do with just blogging being his job. But with his experience in it, and his popularity I’m sure he could do well with it.

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