Here are a few examples of cases in which a court or arbitrator upheld the decision to fire an employee for social network abuses. Note that the existence of a clearly written, specific social networking policy was a factor in each of these cases:
| OK to fire employee for: | Why termination upheld: |
| Disparaging Co-Worker in Blog: Nurse makes highly unflattering remarks about supervisor—calling her “Nurse Ratched” | Blog is not a private communication and even though nurse didn’t use her name, she gave enough info to figure out who she was, who she worked for and who she was talking about |
| Posting Inappropriate Work Conduct on YouTube: Inspired by the movie Jackass construction workers bare their genitals in lunch room and engage in other idiocy, all of which is captured on video and posted on YouTube | Even though it was a first offense, the conduct was egregious |
| Viewing Porn on His Work Computer: The offense was especially egregious because the employee was a supervisor | Supervisor had been warned twice |
| Sending Harassing Emails: Employee sends threatening emails to his co-workers | Conduct violates organization’s violence and harassment policy |
| Ridiculing Boss on Facebook: 2 car dealers make negative comments on Facebook about boss and the dealership they work for including “don’t buy from” them | Arbitrator treats Facebook postings as public communications |
| Excessive Personal Texting: Employee constantly uses his personal cell phone to text friends and family during work hours | Conduct violates written policies and employee received at least 2 warnings |
| Junior High Teacher Has Child Pornography: Teacher found to have naked pictures of his 15-year-old student on the hard drive of his work computer | Teacher knew IT department had access to his hard drive and had no reasonable expectation of privacy |
| Badmouthing Product in Blog: Employee mocks the city she’s supposed to help promote in her blog | “Polar Penny” was no ordinary employee — she was in charge and served as the face of the campaign to bring tourists to the city |
| Praising Hitler in Blog: Employee calls Hitler a genius and makes other racist statements on his personal blog | Co-workers knew employee had posted the blogs and refused to work with him |