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Swiss Woman Fired for Using Facebook While Sick
A Swiss woman, who remains unidentified, called in to work at Nationale Suisse, sick with a migraine headache, according to a brief, vague report by the BBC on Saturday. She told the company she needed to lie in a dark room to let the headache pass. Her employers noticed, however, that she had logged into her Facebook account that day. So, they terminated her.
The company alleges that if the woman was well enough to use Facebook, she was well enough to work at a computer. The woman defended herself by saying that she accessed the site from her iPhone while lying in bed, and accused the company of using a fake profile to spy on her.
To be honest, the whole thing sounds a little ridiculous, and we're wondering if there isn't more to the story. Simply getting fired for logging on to Facebook seems completely unreasonable to us. What do you think? [From: BBC]
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Comments
7
Subscribe to commentsMadMikeApr 27th 2009 5:03PM
That is complete BS. There is work and then there is personal lives. Your job has 0 right to spy on you or terminate you for what you do outside of work.
MaureenApr 27th 2009 5:29PM
Actually, I can see both sides of this. Certainly, one can be too sick to come to work and still pass some of those long hours at home by going online. Would she have been fired if she spent the time watching television?
On the other hand, if you use the very specific claim that you cannot come to work because you have a migraine and can't take focusing on a computer screen until it passes, then it is pretty darn stupid to get caught being on the computer when you're supposed to be lying in a dark room.
So, while I can sympathize with someone who is truly ill, but unable to sleep and in need of a diversion from their misery - I have little sympathy for someone who obviously made a false claim about their health and then got caught doing the very thing they claimed they couldn't do that day.
greeneydmantisApr 27th 2009 5:56PM
It doesn't matter that she said she had a migraine and couldn't be in front of a pc. Work is obviously extended time in front of the pc. They can say someone logged into her facebook account, they can't prove it was her, how long she was there or WHY she was there. If a friend had messaged her the name of a great neurologist and she needed it - does that mean she can't sign in to get that info? Is there is a corporate rule that migraines last X number of hours? If she was better after 3 hours was she supposed to rush back into the office? If she was better because of medication - is she supposed to risk driving in to make them happy?
I hope she sues them. Unlawful termination and harrassment.
BethanyApr 27th 2009 6:44PM
I hope she sues and wins. Corporations have absolutely no business snooping into the lives of private citizens. We are workers, not slaves. I don't care if the woman was doing cartwheels in her sunny bedroom...she was in the PRIVACY OF HER OWN HOME!!! Very, very scary big brother going on here!!!! Beware, people.
Tokunbo TonadeApr 28th 2009 10:28AM
Am sure there's more to her getting the boot than meets the eye! How on earth can any sane dude fire u for being sick?
Quite sad that her employers have no idea they are fishing for a law suit!
Greg S.Dec 3rd 2009 12:33AM
Actually, I'm a pretty big believer in at-will employment. If an employer wants to fire you for something that is utterly unjust and/or unrelated to your job performance or moral fitness to have access to company as well as customer money, then I say you are better off not being there, and I'm sure the company will get its just deserts having to bear the costs to hire and train someone else. In the case of Switzerland, they have a pretty poor record when it comes to equal treatment of women on the job and in society generally, anyway. They gave women the right to vote in only in 1971, but the Canton of Appenzell did not start obeying that federal law until the 1990s. The only Swiss watch company that hires women is IWC of Schaffhausen. The only orchestras that hire female musicians are also in the German-speaking section of the country. But on the positive side, the Swiss government has repudiated witch trials. Well, sort of. Less than one year ago, LOL!!! Now they have banned minarets at Swiss mosques, which reminds me of their 150-year-old ban on kosher meat. Wilhem Tell is probably rolling over in his grave right now and moaning that he died for nothing.
yaTrickOct 29th 2010 2:14AM
What no one seems to realize is the fact that she said that she couldn't get on the computer. Well she was on facebook (or twitter, not sure) and so she lied about not being able to get on a computer. If she lies about that, what else could she be lieiing about? That's the whole issue. Heck she even wanted to delete that post so she didn't get caught.
Now if she said she didn't feel well enough to work at a computer ALL day, that would be different.