Surfing Facebook While Ill Earns Employee a Pink Slip

If there's a question as to whether Big Brother exists, in one form or another, this story should answer it. At the very least, it should show you that if you use social networking sites, and you think you have any measure of privacy, you are sadly mistaken.

Nationale Suisse, a Swiss insurance company, fired a worker for using Facebook on a day when she said she was ill, needed to lie in the dark, and thus could not work in front of a computer. Sounds like a migraine, no?

However, that same day the unnamed woman was seen on Facebook by a colleague. Of course, no comment on why the colleague was surfing Facebook during work hours, but anyway ...

Nationale Suisse said the following in a statement:

"This abuse of trust, rather than the activity on Facebook, led to the ending of the work contract."

In her defense, the unnamed woman told the 20 Minuten daily that she had been surfing Facebook in bed on her iPhone. She accused Nationale Suisse of spying on her and other employees by sending "a mysterious friend request which allows access to personal online activity."

I'd have to say, "why accept the request?" But even given that, I can remember times when I've been sick and used my iPhone to surf the web in bed. You can't expect someone who's sick to necessarily be so sick they are totally incapacitated.

On the other hand, if she had a migraine, or for some other reasons had to lie in the dark, it doesn't make sense that she was surfing on her iPhone.

No matter what, it's a lesson to learn. Limit your exposure on Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace to those you really want to read your updates. Let's not forget theconnor's Twitter fiasco, another person who lost her job by saying it was boring on Facebook, and the Oregon mayor who eventually lost her job over revealing MySpace photos.

Whether you believe in Big Brother or not, you need to be careful.