Continuing Facebook Woes for Employees

Facebook and MySpace continue to offer troublesome temptations to employees. It’s tempting for an employee to post displeasure with an employer on Facebook or MySpace. It seems so anonymous, but, of course, it isn’t.

Dan Leone had been a game-day stadium employee for the Philadelphia Eagles for six years. Leone’s job wasn’t that easy for him because of a neurological disorder. His enthusiasm for the Eagles helped him overcome.

Leone was shocked when the Eagles traded 13-year veteran and team leader, Brian Dawkins, to the Denver Broncos. He vented on Facebook: ‘Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver . . . . Dam [sic] Eagles R Retarded.”

Even before Leone was contacted by the team’s event operations director about a meeting to discuss the Facebook posting, Dan knew he’d made a mistake. Dan was ready to apologize and renew his loyalty. Instead, two days later, Leone received a call from the team’s guest services manager who fired him over the phone.

The Eagles faithful are outraged. The Eagles are holding their ground.

As I noted in an earlier post today, an employer has the right to do what the Eagles did, if an employee posts something on Facebook or MySpace that reflects negatively on the employee’s job or his employer. It would have been better if the Eagles had a clear policy on this. It would have been better if the Eagles had met with Leone to hear him out instead of firing him over the phone. It may have been better to give Leone a warning before firing him. But an employer doesn’t have to put up with any employee blasting the employer on the Web.

For more, consider the points of view expressed by Molly DiBianca and Jon Hyman on this same situation.