“I’m afraid I have called you here to tell you that I am obliged to terminate your employment with the firm.â€
I sit.
My mouth forms a perfect “O†of astonishment.
“This is because of your internet site.â€
Catherine is an English girl who was using her blog called “petite anglaise” to talk about her life and work in Paris. The blog is quite popular, she has an average of about 3000 visitors a day. The quotes above are an abstract of the conversation she had with her boss who decided to fire her because of her blog. She has been accused of bringing her ex-company – the accounting company Dixon Wilson – into disrepute.
While she claims to barely talk about work in her blog, and that she never mentionned the name of her company nor colleagues, her boss estimated that some of her posts “have brought the firm into disrepute”.
Catherine pointed to the 2 posts where she talked about work and that may have got her fired.
With hindsight, I realise this would have been a good time to say “but how can the firm be identified?†However at that precise moment my synapses probably resemble a game of join the dots.
Poor girl. She decided to sue her ex-company, I hope she is going to win.
Well, I guess the company probably did’nt deserve her anyway.
they could have used the extra 3000 visitors a day to get a positive picture of the company acrooss a large audience if they wanted. How foolish could one become.
And I guess if she just puts some google Adsence ads on her page, she will do just fine.
Firing “Petite Anglaise” for blogging was apparently a very bad move from her employer Dixon Wilson as the story has had a wide coverage. It has appeared on British newspapers like the Daily Telegraph and even on the CNN website. Catherine never mentioned the exact name of the company she worked for in her blog (which I had been reading for some time). Since her dismissal it is known worldwide. Judging from the alexa trafic rank, petiteanglaise.com now gets 4 to 5 times more trafic than before.
For those interested, the website of Maître Eolas has the letter that was sent to Petite Anglaise along with comments.
@SEO Rock: True, I’m actually glad she doesn’t work for that company anymore. Hopefully she’ll find a new job soon with a company that deserves her.
@Kilroy: Her employer must be regretting so bad. I tried to check out Maitre Eolas’ website but it didn’t work, I guess his website got too many visits.