Catherwood LibraryILR School

Two recent verdicts set important legal precedents in the cases of employees who are fired for criticizing their employer on line. In one case, the company won a $775,000 jury verdict in an Internet defamation and harassment lawsuit against former employees. The company claimed two former workers acted with malice in placing a large number of postings on message boards accusing the company of being homophobic and of discriminating against pregnant women. The former workers argued that it is a free speech issue. In another case, a California court ruled against a former Intel employee who was fired after sending emails criticizing Intel to thousands of co-workers. Intel argued that it was not a matter of free speech, but that the emails were equivalent to spam and amounted to trespassing. Civil libertarians fear that the decisions will be used by other companies to single out individuals and may be used to prevent organizing between former and current workers.