Comments on: Chez Pazienza: Say What You Will (Requiem for a TV News Career)

By: larksilver

larksilver — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:31:02 +0000

In Texas, too, you can quit without explanation or they can fire ya because they don’t like your socks.

Granted, they’ll have to pay you unemployment for a while, because that’s a stupid and assinine reason to fire someone, but they can still fire you.

I don’t know about Arkansas for sure - but I think it’s the same way.

By: kirabug

kirabug — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:13:50 +0000

I’m betting you’re right. Where I work, it’s been referred to as a “right to work” state, so I assumed that was the right term. If it doesn’t mean what I thought it meant, I guess I’d better go find out what it does mean!

By: jzimbert

jzimbert — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:33:51 +0000

Ummm… actually Pennsylvania is not a right to work state. And right to work only applies to unionized shops. Does your company have a union? I think you’re thinking of at-will employment.

By: kirabug

kirabug — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:52:19 +0000

On one level, I can understand why employers have the right/ability to say what you can and can’t say — depending on the industry. If I ran a brokerage house, I don’t want my brokers yammering about investing on their own time, partially because I’d be losing potential clients, partially because a broker who goes dishonest is still going to reflect on my company if he gets caught, and partially because the SEC would give birth to live kittens. Similar logic works for doctors, lawyers, and even to a certain extent journalists.

On another level, I don’t think that same employer should be able to have a cow if you write a scathing review of, say, the government, or doctors talk about investing or lawyers talk about medicine or any combination therein. We’re humans, we have the right to hold and voice our opinions.

In Pennsylvania, at least, we’re a right to work state. I can quit because I don’t like the curtains in the office, and they can fire me if they don’t like my socks. As a result, for me at least, it’s a matter of just trying to stay within the lines of relatively good taste and avoiding subjects that might make my employer’s (or the government’s) skin crawl. Even if I wasn’t writing a blog, I’m pretty sure I’d still try to keep my public personal life (everything that takes place outside my front door) within those boundaries. I like my job.

By: jamie

jamie — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:29:14 +0000

When exactly were employers granted the ability to alienate your “inalienable rights”? I get not being able to talk about specifics within your company for privacy and security reasons. But limits on how you publically and individually express opinions about your field as a whole? I don’t get it.

I also find it funny (ironic?) that if the government fired someone who publically opined that the govt was not doing the job they were meant to do, the media outlets would be accusing the govt of impinging on the individuals freedom of expression.

By: jzimbert

jzimbert — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:08:04 +0000

Let this be a lesson to all of us: be sure to buy a diary with a little lock on it, just in case.