Conair to Plaintiff: Dude, Get a Gmail Account!

The Times of Trenton reports on a not very surprising decision of a New Jersey appellate court in Canella v. Conair Corp., upholding a trial court dismissal of a wrongful discharge claim by a Conair Corp. employee who was terminated for using the corporation’s e-mail for private correspondence.  The termination occurred after the plaintiff received an internal memorandum supplementing the employee handbook with a warning that “misuse of e-mail will be grounds for immediate dismissal.”  This written notice was followed by a warning by plaintiff’s supervisor that she must stop communicating with her former partner and co-worker via e-mail.  Plaintiff continued her correspondence.  In the e-mail that precipitated Canella’s dismissal, she addressed her ex-lover as “one arrogant, cold, cruel bitch.”  

The trial court found that Canella was an at-will employee.  But even if she weren’t, the court found that Conair would have been justified in terminating her for her repeated violations of the employee handbook and for her insubordination in continuing her e-mail exchange with her former partner after being told to stop.

The full opinion can be found here.  Based on the Appellate Division’s opinion, the case seems exceedingly clear-cut.  Canella was terminated in May, 2000.  One wonders why it took nine years for a seemingly meritless claim to work its way to dismissal.  I suspect there was more going on here than is reflected in the appellate decision.  Many people use their work e-mail for personal purposes, and they do not get fired for it.  I wonder if Canella thought she was being fired for being a lesbian and viewed Conair’s grounds for termination — abuse of the corporation’s e-mail — as a pretext.

[Jeremy Telman]