Thursday, February 5, 2009

Danger!

Dave is constantly warning me about what I post on the internet. Yesterday one of my co-workers was immediately fired for something she posted on a blog (privately from her home.) I thought it was blown way out of proportion, and could have warranted a warning or short suspension, but the employer saw it, felt it was a Hippa violation (patient privacy law,) and there was a no tolerance stance taken. It is making me more cautious, for sure!

3 comments:

Ann said...

It's ironic - with the internet there is complete freedom to say whatever you want, but at the same time you have to be much more careful than in a private letter to someone.

On my own blog - I have to be very careful. The things that cause me the most personal growth or that would be the most interesting to write about, are also the things I can't write about. My kids or spouse would be justifiably upset if I wrote about situations with them. And for the reasons you mentioned, I can't write much about situations at school.

So the more open the platform, in some ways the less that can be said.

rk2 said...

Yes, it's a great reminder to be careful about what is posted. As wonderful as the internet is, it raises entirely new issues regarding privacy. There have been several times even funny things have happened at work, but I don't post it for fear of who from work may be reading my blog.

Eric - Retta said...

We have to take a Ethics course each year and sign-off that we agree to the ethics policy. There are four course we have to take with quizzes and all. It takes about 2 hours to complete. Part of the class states that the "offense" is determined solely by the other person and even if they were not present when you made a statement, if the statement is repeated to them and they find it offensive, you can be terminated. ZERO TOLERANCE rules.

Sure do have to be happy. Smiling when someone else makes an off color remark is enough to get you terminated is if someone else takes offense to the statement. Sure do need to be careful out there.

I did notice that this year, they removed the statement from the class that said: "Discussing your spiritual beliefs, even with those share those beliefs, is considered harassment under this policy because those of differing beliefs maybe offended by the conversation if overheard".

And then there's Hanna Montana! EDK