Meteorologist fired over breach of unwritten social media policy
A broadcaster at a news station in Louisiana politely responded to a Facebook comment about her hair. She lost her job over it, via a policy that wasn’t codified. Was that legal? Was it fair?
According to a statement from the station, “Rhonda Lee was not dismissed for her appearance or defending her appearance. She was fired for continuing to violate company procedure.”
Lee says the cited policy isn’t written down and that station managers told her there was no definite rule to point to. The station did, however, publish a redacted version of an email that stated, “When we see complaints from viewers, it’s best not to respond at all.” The email continues to say the only proper Facebook response is to provide station contact information.
The opening paragraph of that email, however, says it’s intended to “offer some guidance” and is “more of a starting point” for a social media policy.
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