Careers

Experiences

Industries

Offices

Our Firm

Pages

Our People

Updates

Practices

Warner Norcross + Judd LLP is a corporate law firm with over 230 attorneys serving clients in nine offices throughout Michigan. Among the largest law firms in Michigan, Warner works in virtually all areas of business law.

Michigan Law Firm - Warner Norcross + Judd LLP

Just a few more examples of how bad online behavior can get people fired:

contentpilot/introduction

<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/54912248/2011-WDVa-Dudley-Mcd-s-Ee-Fired-in-Part-for-Myspace-Posts">Dudley v. 4-McCar-T, Inc</a>. (W.D. Va. May 4, 2011): &nbsp;Dudley was an employee of the defendant's McDonald's franchise. &nbsp;The court's opinion describes him as "insolent," insubordinate," and a "brat," among other things, so his termination was based on a lot more than just his social media activity. &nbsp;Still, one of the primary incidents that the court discusses in describing the events leading up to Dudley's termination was when Dudley posted pictures of himself and his co-workers (wearing their McDonald's uniforms) to his MySpace page. &nbsp;His employer asked him to take the photos down, and he refused. &nbsp;Dudley was later caught complaining about the incident to co-workers, and refused to stop complaining about it.

core/list-item

<a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7799227175785843190&amp;q=Wright+v.+Unemployment+Compensation+Board+of+Review&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=2,5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wright v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review</a> (Penn. Commw. Sept. 2, 2011): Wright was an administrative secretary at Woods Services.&nbsp; To protect clients' privacy, Woods had a policy against taking photos or videos of them.&nbsp; It also restricted the use of personal cell phones during business hours.&nbsp; Nevertheless, Wright used her phone to take a picture of a client being restrained, then posted it to Facebook.&nbsp; Despite her assertion of First Amendment rights, Wright was fired, and the Unemployment Board upheld the decision to deny her benefits.

<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/68685687" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Morse v. J.P. Morgan Chase &amp; Co.</a> (M.D. Fla. June 24, 2011): Morse complained on her Facebook page that her employer hadn't paid her overtime wages, and was fired.&nbsp; She sued, alleging retaliation under the Fair Labor Standards Act.&nbsp; The court dismissed her claim as a matter of law because the FLSA's retaliation provision only applies to an actual complaint filed with an employer.&nbsp; Morse, by contrast, never said anything at all about the issue to her employer.&nbsp; Instead, she chose to simply "blow off steam" online.&nbsp; That did not state a cause of action for retaliation.

core/list

Employees: if you don't want your employer to see something, don't post it online for the world to see.

core/paragraph

Augmented Legality

Emerging Media and Technologies

Partner

Brian D. Wassom

Information Technology Transactions

More Social Media Sackings

Warner Norcross + Judd LLP is responsible for the contents of our advertising and this website. Please read our full <a href="/privacy-policy/" aria-label="see privacy policy">privacy policy</a> available on our website. If you have any questions or comments about our website or our Privacy Policy please contact us at <a href="mailto:info@wnj.com">info@wnj.com</a> or 616.752.2000.

More Social Media Sackings

professionals