Most people agree that typing in all capital letters is the Internet equivalent of shouting, and one company interpreted an employee's habit of emailing in all caps, red, and bold as confrontational. So confrontational, that the company told the employee to hit the road.
Vicki Walker was an accountant for ProCare until she was let go for her style of communication. ProCare claimed she "caused disharmony in the workplace by using block capitals, bold typeface and red text in her emails." But Walker had the last say in the dispute, when The Employment Relations Authority in New Zealand ordered ProCare to compensate Walker with $11,500 for unfair termination.
What do you think of the situation; was the company in the right or wrong with its reasoning for firing the employee?
Ruco Line
Untold
theOutnet
Couldn't they have told her to stop using that style before firing her? And in the linked article, she claims she used it in one instance only, when emailing instructions that required the particular style ... hmm ... not sure if I'm getting the full story here.
1I agree with the first post, hello? what happened to three strikes rule? Why wouldn't they say something like 'hey your email etiquette is kind of poor, can you please return to the standard font, size, and color that emails are written in? Based upon this information, this clearly is an instance of unfair termination.
2I am fairly sure she would have stopped, had someone told her about it. It doesn't sound like they did.
3But on the other hand.. if someone writes work emails in all caps, they can't be the brightest, either. Can you fire someone for being generally stupid?
A warning should have been issued -- this would have immediately stopped. It's poor etiquette on the woman's part as well as the companies. This was truly a senseless firing.
4I'm going to have to believe that this company has been looking to release Vicki for sometime. There has to be some history that we're not getting.
5I agree, couldn't they have just asked her to stop?
6Seriously, it's called "feedback"!
7Agree with the others, they should have asked her to change her writing style before they fired her. She should sue them.
8bchicgrl: not sure what the law is there, but many states in the U.S. are "at will" when it comes to employees. That means that an employee can be terminated for any reason (except race/ sex/ national origin/ age) at any time.
and I agree with dienliv .. sounds like they wanted a reason to terminate her.
9I think she should have definitely known better than to write in all caps. Part of me can see the reason why they fired her. Writing e-mails in all caps is the equivalent of shouting, so it is like shouting to your customers/clients/colleagues which is inappropriate. However, firing is still too harsh.
10I would think that someone who writes email this way, has other characteristics and attitudes that could lead them to being fired.
11This stupid lady must got some bad history led the company determined to fire her, as she may do this typing things she may as well do something else stupid
12I know someone who works there so took the trouble to find out. It seems the woman was a bully and many staff avoided having anything to do with her. Some were so upset with how she treated them that they threatened to leave. The Company offered all sorts of support and help to get her back on side with staff, which she refused. They even got in an Independent Mediator who was there for a week and trying to sort things out. When she left the staff had a celebration champagne breakfast the next morning.
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