"I had not set out to deliberately ruin the company's image. In fact I don't think I have even inadvertently; if I had wished to do that then I would have been running less satirical and far more biting comments on a rather more regular basis, rather than commenting from time to time about a bad day at work, a grumpy manager or the like. You'd think I had run a sustained propaganda campaign of subversion."According to a recent posting by Gordon, he has, with the help of a trades union representative from the Retail Book Association, successfully appealed against the dismissal.He was offered reinstatement by the company, but in view of another offer from The Forbidden Planet, negotiated what he describes as "an amicable settlement" with Waterstone's instead.Paul Lee, National Officer with the trade union, said:
"It is good to see that common sense prevailed and pleasing to report that our representations in the internal appeal were well heard and acted upon. I was surprised by the original, local decision to dismiss as Waterstone's has a good reputation in such matters, and the company is generally very open-minded. Things may have been different, however, if commentary such as this had been truly in the public domain rather than in a hard to find blogsite".Emma Grossmith, an employment specialist with Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, commented:
"Whilst making an offer of reinstatement to an employee you have dismissed cannot right any wrongs in the disciplinary process or decision, it can help reduce the level of compensation which the employee might win if they won a claim for unfair dismissal in the employment tribunal. Very often, reinstatement is not a viable option, however, and this case provides yet another example of why employers need to set very clear guidelines for staff on what will and won't be considered misconduct."Gordon now runs "Joe Gordon's Blog Log" for The Forbidden Planet in addition to his Woolamaloo Gazette, in which he has praised his trades union rep, his friends, family and the on-line community for all their support.Elsewhere, US civil rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation has warned bloggers not to assume that blogs can remain private. "As long as you blog anonymously and in a work-safe way, what you say on-line is far less likely to come back to hurt you," it suggests.The group has published How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else), a how-to guide for bloggers worried about protecting their privacy and free speech.
