Define "course and scope of employment."

[JakeFirst]

I was fired last year from a company I was with for over 6 1/2 years. I was fired for comments made on my Myspace page (blog). There was no policy against blogging at the time I wrote the blog entries. I ultimately made disparaging remarks about the way the Main Office handled the termination of several other employees.

I was fired for making the disparaging remarks. There is a clause in the employee handbook that states that, effectively, an employee may not make disparaging remarks about the company, employees, customers, or even the products carried in the store at any time during the course and scope of employment.

I didn't go to law school, but I was under the impression that "scope and course of employment" meant that I was either:

1) On the company premises, or
2) I was on the clock (being paid by the company at the time), or
3) I was otherwise representing the company in some capacity.

I wrote the blogs at my own home, on my own time, and I was not being paid or otherwise representing the company.

I don't dispute the firing; Oregon is an at-will state and the company had every right to fire me for the comments I made. I am just baffled at how the blogging could be considered during the "course and scope of employment." I have been unable to find a definition for this phrase. The only thing I've really seen is that it means anything "connected with work."

The problem with "connected with work" is that I could go home from a long day and my wife could ask how my day went. If I were to respond, "It sucked, honey. I had this annoying customer who was yelling at me today for things that weren't even my fault. He was a total jerk when all I was trying to do was help him!"

It would seem that if my someone walked by my apartment at the time and overheard, then I could be fired for making comments to my own wife in my own home, even though I am off the clock and obviously not representing my company. Because I called the customer a "jerk" in my explanation to my wife, it would be "connected with work," wouldn't it? And if so, then just about everyone on the planet that ever complained about their job would be fired and unable to collect unemployment benefits.

Could someone lead me toward (or otherwise just define) what the phrase, "course and scope of employment" actually means? Thank you in advance for your time and any help you can provide.

 

[Patricia_Young]

Just because it is in the handbook with specific provisions doesn't mean this was an illegal termination. "In the course and scope of employment" is basically anything relative to your employment, even if you are off the clock when you say it.

Expect anything you say on the internet to be public knowledge. Use common sense. Telling your wife what a crappy day you had is not public knowledge.

 

[JakeFirst]

True, my wife and I can have a private conversation. In the situation I presented, however, an open window while living in an apartment complex changes things. If this person who passed by my window when I said that went to my work and claimed that I had called another customer "annoying" and "a total jerk" then technically, because the statement is relative to my employment, I could be fired.

Ultimately, the act of saying something like that, if the information is leaked through some means such as a 3rd party overhearing the conversation, ends up being an act that is in violation of the policy. You might say that something like this is highly unlikely and sounds quite silly, but when someone asks for hot coffee, spills it on themselves, and then sues the company that provided them with hot coffee (and they win), then the absurdity of a situation doesn't necessarily discount the possibility of it happening.

But thank you for further defining the phrase. It appears that anything that may possibly be connected with work is how it must be interpreted.