He bashed his employer online — should he have been fired?
March 23, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Communication, Employee computer use, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
A man employed by a professional football team was recently fired for misconduct. His crime: publicly badmouthing a decision made by the team’s front office.
Dan Leone worked at the ticket gate at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles. Having grown up in Philadelphia, Leone considered himself a fan of team as well as one of its employees.
He worked at the stadium for six years — until he posted an online comment criticizing one of the team’s off-season roster moves.
On his Facebook page, Leone wrote that he was “[expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver” — referring to the popular safety Brian Dawkins, who the team failed to re-sign after he became a free agent — “Dam Eagles R Retarted.”
Two days after that message was added to his profile, Leone’s boss fired him over the phone, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Leone says he’s apologized to management several times, but as of now, his termination still stands.
What do you think? Should all employees be fired if they’re caught publicly badmouthing their employers? Or was Leone’s comment unrelated to his job performance? Let us know your opinion in the comments section below.
View all the Latest StoriesTags: Facebook, online reputation, termination
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:55 am
until he got to the “retarded” comment, i think he was okay in what he was saying. but seriously, you can’t slag the company publicly and not expect them to be upset…
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
This may have been an over-reaction but it was not illegal. Griping does not enjoy exclusion to seclusion if that griping is viewable on a social forum and violates trust and the peace of an organization. Where-as public employees have some protected speech rights private employees do not. Protected speech is about matters of public policy or concern. He had freeness of speech to gripe but he was not protected from his indiscretion.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Sounds like there is more to this story than what information was given. Dan Leone could have had previous warnings about his inappropriate behavior. For all we know this could be one of many infractions that Mr. Leone has had over the years and this was the final straw. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
March 24th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
If employment is “at will” an employee’s employment can be terminated for ANY reason provided it isn’t unlawfully discriminatory or retaliatory for exercising rights protected under any whistleblower or civil rights laws.
This person’s lack of self control calls to question his judgement and could have financial repercussions on the ball club franchise. If management can not TRUST this person to exercise self control and judgement, then severing employment ties is prudent.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
It wasn’t illegal, but I think it was a bit over the top unless there are other factors involved. If every employee who griped about their employer was terminated, almost no one would have a job. I do think it was disrespectful to post it the way he did and that he wasn’t using very good sense. But from what I’ve read about this, he was a very good employee otherwise and this one lapse of judgment seems fairly minor overall. Maybe I’ve grown thick-skinned from listening to employees complain about everything under the sun and that’s why this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to me. But I would have given him a written warning, especially considering his apology, admitting he was wrong and the immediate removal of the comment from the site (from what I understand, it was removed before anyone had reacted).