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Facebook Firing Sparks Debate Over Cyber Sacking
An esthetician, Crystal Bell, was fired via an email sent through Facebook in late November 2008, sparking an ethical debate over what employers owe their employees in times when electronic communication has become the norm.
Ms. Bell was also hired via Facebook, and she had only been on the job for two weeks when she was terminated, allegedly for failing to show up for a staff meeting on her day off. Her supervisor defended the Facebook firing, claiming that she tried to contact Ms. Bell after she failed to appear at the staff meeting, but was unable to reach her.
This raises the question of whether cyber sacking is merely a modern equivalent of a letter of termination, or whether there are any legal concerns with respect to letting employees go using this means of communication. In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada established that a firing, if done in a cavalier way, can result in “bad faith” damages in addition to normal severance pay. The ruling from over a decade ago does not contemplate the possibility of termination via electronic means. In the U.S., Radio Shack sparked a similar debate online and in newspaper editorials when it notified four hundred of its employees via email that they were being dismissed two years ago. While Ms. Bell’s circumstances may differ given that she had only been employed for two weeks, the question remains as to whether firing via electronic means would be considered to be cavalier resulting in “bad faith” damages in addition to normal severance pay in Canada.
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http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=a627fa6e-8eca-4a84-8c82-45a693d4473d