But Joe Gordon turned down the offer in favour of a position
with specialist sci-fi retailer The Forbidden Planet, according to
his blog, The Woolamaloo Gazette, which he describes as a
"satirical newspaper".
Gordon, 37, had worked at an Edinburgh branch of Waterstone's
for 11 years before being suspended just before Christmas. He was
told that it was because of postings made on the blog. An inquiry
led to a disciplinary hearing and he was sacked for gross
misconduct.
At the time Gordon acknowledged that he coined the term
"Bastardstone's" and referred in his postings to a character called
"Evil Boss" whom he compares to the Pointy-Haired Boss in Scott
Adams' popular Dilbert cartoons.
Gordon explained:
"I had not set out to deliberately ruin the company's image.
In fact I don't think I have even inadvertently; if I had wished to
do that then I would have been running less satirical and far more
biting comments on a rather more regular basis, rather than
commenting from time to time about a bad day at work, a grumpy
manager or the like. You'd think I had run a sustained propaganda
campaign of subversion."
According to a recent posting by Gordon, he has, with the help
of a trades union representative from the Retail Book Association,
successfully appealed against the dismissal.
He was offered reinstatement by the company, but in view of
another offer from The Forbidden Planet, negotiated what he
describes as "an amicable settlement" with Waterstone's
instead.
Paul Lee, National Officer with the trade union, said:
"It is good to see that common sense prevailed and pleasing to
report that our representations in the internal appeal were well
heard and acted upon. I was surprised by the original, local
decision to dismiss as Waterstone's has a good reputation in such
matters, and the company is generally very open-minded. Things may
have been different, however, if commentary such as this had been
truly in the public domain rather than in a hard to find
blogsite".
Emma Grossmith, an employment specialist with Pinsent Masons,
the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, commented:
"Whilst making an offer of reinstatement to an employee you
have dismissed cannot right any wrongs in the disciplinary process
or decision, it can help reduce the level of compensation which the
employee might win if they won a claim for unfair dismissal in the
employment tribunal. Very often, reinstatement is not a viable
option, however, and this case provides yet another example of why
employers need to set very clear guidelines for staff on what will
and won't be considered misconduct."
Gordon now runs "Joe Gordon's Blog Log" for The Forbidden
Planet in addition to his Woolamaloo Gazette, in which he has
praised his trades union rep, his friends, family and the on-line
community for all their support.
Elsewhere, US civil rights group the Electronic Frontier
Foundation has warned bloggers not to assume that blogs can remain
private. "As long as you blog anonymously and in a work-safe way,
what you say on-line is far less likely to come back to hurt you,"
it suggests.
The group has published How to Blog Safely (About Work or
Anything Else), a how-to guide for bloggers worried about
protecting their privacy and free speech.
