Fired Delta employee crusade lacks credibility

The story of the Delta Airlines employee who was fired for breach of company policy regarding some photos she posted on her personal blog is taking some interesting twists and turns.

Here's the quick story overview.

Ellen Simonetti was a flight attendant at Delta Airlines. She writes Queen of Sky, a personal blog, in which she posted some photos of herself in Delta uniform. She was fired by Delta for posting the photos  - not for blogging - which Delta has said was in breach of company policy on such matters.

So, yesterday CNET News carried a story entitled I was fired for blogging by... Ellen Simonneti.

In reading Ms Simonetti's story in the CNET article, it becomes clear that the headline is purely attention-getting. It's a good headline. Yet it doesn't ring true at all.

What does Ellen say in her own article about why she was fired? This:

[My supervisor] advised me over the phone that my employment with Delta Air Lines had been terminated due to "inappropriate pictures in uniform on the Web."

I had a lot sympathy for Ellen when this story first surfaced in early October. And it was illustrative of the risks facing employers and employees where there are no clear policies about blogging. But her biased CNET article has taken all that sympathy away.

In the article, Ellen speaks about "employer blog backlash" in which she paints a picture of a Dickensian employer with no respect for the rights of others. And she concludes with:

I have decided to continue to blog and spread my story about employer blog backlash. If it is to be defeated, we all have to stand up to this silent and arbitrary foe, one that should never again be allowed to rear its ugly head.

Puh-leeze!! It sounds like Ellen has either been reading too much weird stuff (maybe even the report on 'blog threat management' put out by an Irish research company last month), or is seeking a tabloid-type media spotlight. Or both.

Credibilty-gap aside, though, this is a cautionary tale of how a medium like blogs can be used by an employee in conflict with an employer, for whatever reason (look at another example - the story of the wife of the Electronic Arts employee which looks like it has influenced changes in poor working practices at that company).

If Ellen Simonetti does have a genuine case against her employer for unfair dismissal, as she is alleging - and has filed a lawsuit - then power to her for making the issue as public as possible where her blog is a primary communication tool.

But if you embark on a crusade, you'd better be sure you have a credible story as well.