Google
reportedly fired an unnamed employee who leaked a memo of the company’s recent
seemingly positive announcement of a 10 percent pay raise and a $1,000 bonus
for all employees, according to sources who spoke with CNN Money.
The question is, what message does this send
to employees? How harmful was the information the individual shared with the
media? Enough to get fired over, evidently.
An unrelated firing in Connecticut involves a
negative Facebook post by an employee about her manager. In
early November, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint on behalf
of a terminated employee who worked as an emergency technician for American
Medical Response, an ambulance services company.
Dawnmarie
Souza contends she was fired after posting critical comments about her managing
supervisor on Facebook and after requesting and being denied the right for
representation from her union, Teamsters Local 443, according to the complaint.
Part of the case is the denial of the union assistance, but the labor board
also contends American Medical Response’s Internet and blogging policies are "overly
broad."
The
company said Souza was a problem employee with customers and that Facebook had
nothing to do with the termination. But, the issue of what can and cannot be
written in a Facebook post certainly makes this a potentially precedent-setting
case for all companies and their social media policies.
For more, read the eWeek article Google Pay Raises, Facebook Under Fire After Employee Terminations.