I worked in an office where a women was sending out letters but when the supervisor put in the basket a letter she wanted mailed she found all the enevolpes the women wrote had every charecter in the address a different color.     Plus she doted all the i's with a red heart the supervisor took them out and made her do them over.  The women who wrote them was so insulted.   Can you imagine working in an office and not knowing the minimum way how to address a business envelope

We reallly don't know if she was or was not appropriately warned and cautioned about her email style.  However, most people know this is considered unpleasant and unprofessional.  Perhaps this was a straw that broke the camel's back and she was fired for a variety of reasons including email.  OR  Maybe the bosses wife just doesn't like her because she is kinda cute and is 15 years younger than the wife herself.   And the wife along with her best friend and fellow harpie the Office Manager plotted against this innocent young woman out of meaness and jealosy?  New Zealand is a very long way away

Actually, Tmarie, as a lifelong marketing/communications professional, I agree with you, and, probably, ultimately, with the company.  I'd at least agree that this woman should not have public contact either in person or via electronic communication.

But, all joke aside, there are a couple of things to remember:

1) From a single news story, we certainly don't know as much about the situaiton, and haven't heard all the testimony the court heard.

2) Good Personnel and/or human relations practice, and some counseling and training of the employee, might have solved the situation w/o the draconian response.

Maybe that was tried.  Maybe not.  As I said, we don't KNOW enough.  That's one reason I joke about these GASP!!!! BE VERY ALARMED!!!! stories.  They are not INTENDED  to really inform, they are calculated to inflame.

Sep 2, 2009 -- 1:40PM, Nepenthe wrote:

Sep 2, 2009 -- 1:03PM, Tmarie64 wrote:

Any professional should write an email the same way they would write a letter.

If she can't write professionally, then they should be able to fire her.

 

Regardless of professionalism, if she failed to follow company policy in regards to her communications, they should be able to fire her.

Hi Nepenthe, pasting a portion of one of the links at the bottom .. A couple of the reasons cited by Employment Relations Authority for wrongful dismissal are explained below....

Apparently she hadn't received adequate warning, the didn't think the problem was severe enough to warrant dismissal, nor was there anything in the company policy regarding email etiquette. I'm curious how many companies will update their employee handbooks as a result?

I would also think the intended audience should be taken into consideration... Internal communications can be less formal, depending upon who the recipient is. External communications by necessity needs to be of higher caliber. Emails are considered LEGAL documents in the US, not so sure whether this is the case in NZ.

Regardless of the legal issues, I think they were right to dismiss her. Email is such an integral part of our communications, lack of legibility can certainly lead to incorrect conclusions and missteps.

Quote from the article:

Authority member Alastair Dumbleton said Ms Walker received no warnings, and while she had contributed to disharmony in the workplace it was not to the extent that dismissal was fair or reasonable.

She had been a capable and competent employee, he said. ProCare did not have a style or etiquette guide for employees using email, so it was not clear what was regarded as unacceptable communication.

ProCare did not respond to a request for comment on the compensation ruling.

Not too get too far off-topic, but this is yet another in a long string of idiotic examples of a court room believing it can better run a private business than the people running it.