Woman fired for ALL CAPS e-mail wins court fight

September 9, 2009 by Sam Narisi

Posted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views

Writing in all caps is one of the most annoying e-mail etiquette breaches. But have you ever seen anyone get fired over it?

That’s exactly what happened to Vicki Walker, former controller for a New Zealand health care company. Her boss fired her for sending “confrontational” e-mails.

For example: One message advising her staff on how to fill out claim forms contained some text in all capitals, and well as some text in bold and colored red.

Walker took the company to court for wrongful termination (New Zealand employees can only be fired for cause). The company defended its action by arguing that she caused “disharmony in the workplace.”

But the court didn’t buy it and awarded Walker $17,000. Annoying, yes, but misusing the caps lock key wasn’t a serious enough offense for termination.

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Tags: all caps, e-mail, New Zealand, termination

3 Responses to “Woman fired for ALL CAPS e-mail wins court fight”

Nannette Says:
September 16th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I can’t imagine an employee being fired for using all caps. The appropriate step would be to counsel the employee then monitor. If the employee continues the practice then it’s insubordination.
Cristine Says:
September 16th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
A lousy $17k, eh? I’m sure if the same would have happend in the US she may have walked out a millionaire.
Alex Says:
October 21st, 2009 at 10:46 am
THIS IS TOTALLY RIDICULOUS!

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