Apple policy overrides freedoms, Facebook privacy

Britain's Employment Tribunal has upheld an Apple firing of a retail worker over posts on Facebook, reports say. The worker, known as Crisp, was specifically fired for "gross misconduct" after criticizing the company and its stores. Crisp appealed to the Employment Tribunal, complaining that the Facebook posts had been marked private. The Tribunal rejected that defense, arguing that even private posts on Facebook can be copied and shared; Crisp's comments came to Apple's attention, in fact, after a Facebook friend copied the posts and passed them on to the manager of Crisp's Apple Store.

Apple policy explicitly bans workers from making comments on its products or criticism of the brand. The company made this clear during its induction process, the Tribunal is said to have remarked. Apple successfully argued that the restrictions against posting were justifiable in order to protect its business image, trumping rights to expression.

by MacNN Staff