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Facebook Surfing Cost Swiss Woman Her Job

A woman [1] in Switzerland working for Nationale Suisse [2]told her employer she couldn’t work at the computer, and had to stay home in the dark.

A fellow employee supposedly noticed her surfing on Facebook [3]and reported her. And yes, it cost her the job.

The employee’s quite plausible position was that she was surfing Facebook [3]on her iPhone [4] in bed. She also accused them of spying on her.

Most workers are becoming aware that privacy controls should be used [5] to protect personal information, even from employers. And persons added as “friends” probably shouldn’t include those that will try to get you fired [6].

Is the employer required to investigate how the employee was actually accessing Facebook [3]? And if not, are these reasonably sufficient grounds for dismissal?

Considering the already low expectation of privacy [7] of employees in the workplace, does this type of monitoring constitute an unreasonable intrusion?