Celebrity Blogger Gets Wings Clipped

Does An Employer Have The Right To Monitor What You Blog?

Published on October 28, 2004 By Tim Mack In Life Journals

Many people start blogs because they want to share part of their every day routine with friends and family. But some corporations don't seem to think that their employees have a right to a normal life after the working day is over. A blogger that has been a long time feature of my Celebrity Bloggers list has now been suspended without pay from her job as a flight attendant for perhaps a controversial picture of her and her skirt riding up perhaps a bit to high up her legs on her blog called Diary Of A Flight Attendant. Its author Ellen Simonetti has now even lost her medical coverage. I just now noticed an email from the Flight Attendant informing me what happened and providing a link to her story that was picked up by the BBC. I wish her the very best and I hope that she will be back in the air soon and blogging about her adventures again. If anyone would like to send her advice or offer her well wishes, her email is queenofsky@gmail.com and I'm sure she will be glad to hear any kind words.

Comments

pseudosoldier

on Oct 28, 2004

Employers have as much right to read things you post on the internet as anyone else. I think your real question is, "Is it right to be censured by your employer for something that you have posted on the internet?"
I think the answer to *that* question is, "It's acceptable for an employer to take issue with something that you post on the internet." By posting words and images as a "Flight Attendant," she represents, at least to some extent, the corporation or company that she works for. I won't say that it was entirely appropriate for her to be fired over a potentially racy picture of herself (I have not read the article you linked to, nor seen the picture), but you have to realize that if you identify yourself with a job, others' impression of that job and the company that employs you is affected by what you put out there.
I also wish her well, but she may need to be more careful about the content of her personal web pages.

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