Law firm bans associate from posting her online novel

I'm thinking she's gonna have to choose her battles on this one. I don't think any employer can or should control a person's artistic pursuits because they are separate of their day job. In short: sounds like BS to me...

Yeah the real name thing is kinda boneheaded if you ask me. Then again, this could be an elaborate scheme to generate news coverage so that an agent or a publisher will read her work, contact her, offer her a jillion dollars, and then she can tell her law firm to pound salt...

Bubastes said:

What I don't understand is why she chose to use her real name. I write under a pen name because I want to keep my day job completely separate from my writing. What I write is none of their business. I think it's BS too, but you're right, she has to choose her battles.

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Yeah, I think it's BS, too. That said, if there's a potential problem with what you do in your off hours (and I guess writing erotica would fall into that category for some...whether or not it SHOULD is a whole other discussion), I think one would be wise to write under a pen name.

I can't feel all that sorry for her as a result. *shrug*

I am surprised a law firm would do this - they must be sure of their ground, but it looks shaky to me.

I was onced hauled into the boss' office for some nude pics on the internet under my name. Haha - that Kate Thornton in Britain is all over the net, but one look at our faces kinda lets you know she ain't me. I got a good laugh that he would think a 20-something body could belong to my 50-something self!

I just don't see why an employer would care what a fictionwriter produces.

Kate Thornton said:

I am surprised a law firm would do this - they must be sure of their ground, but it looks shaky to me.

I was onced hauled into the boss' office for some nude pics on the internet under my name. Haha - that Kate Thornton in Britain is all over the net...

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Hmmm, did you then question your boss as to why he was looking at nude pics, and in particular, how he found ones that matched your name?

If she worked outside of the office, and she's not using her co-workers as fodder--the law office could be sued for violating emplyees' rights.

Maybe she signed a contract about conduct outside of the workplace. In any event, it's stupid not to write erotica under a pen name in such a conservative profession--future employers might use Google.

HeronW said:

If she worked outside of the office, and she's not using her co-workers as fodder--the law office could be sued for violating emplyees' rights.

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No, assuming this job was at-will, the firm would entirely be within their rights to a) threaten to fire her unless she complied, and b) fire her if she did not comply (unless of course there were a contractual clause in her employment contract which prevented termination on this specific basis).

Bubastes said:

Law firms have no qualms about dictating what their associates should do with all of their waking hours, contract or no contract. Attorneys are supposed to conduct themselves in an ethical, upstanding manner (insert laughter here), so I'm not surprised the law firm did what it did.

Besides, she's supposed to be billing more hours or getting clients, not wasting time writing! /sarcasm

ETA: Mr. Chuckletrousers is right. As an at-will employee, the firm is free to set any conditions it wants, and she is free to comply with them or be fired.

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Quoted for truth. Been there.

She absolutely should've used a pen name and not photographed herself. On the one hand I feel for her, but on the other hand, law firms are pretty clear about their expectations of behavior; she should've known better.

I'd fire her ass too.

The firm offers her as an expert. It dilutes her ability to be taken seriously as an expert if clients can Google her and find her erotica and pictures. I don't have a problem with her writing erotica (write on!), but anything involving sex carries cultural and moral freight. It's not the same as being on a baseball team. She should be smart enough to know that a pen name was necessary.

Legal right of the firm will depend on state, I believe, but many states are now allowing companies to dictate what employees do after hours. I knew a company in Florida that threatened to fire a girl because they saw her smoking a cigarette on the weekend. Shortly after that, the company instituted random nicotine tests.

Since she is a direct reflection upon the company, I think this woman was just plain stupid to use her real name. If they fired her for (potentially) tarring their image, I can buy it. If they didn't mention that, but cited religious/moral grounds, she'll probably get wealthy.

It may be BS, but employers are private entities, and have pretty wide leeway to expect and enforce certain behaviors on employees. If she'd contributed, say, a racist diatribe to a KKK website, I doubt there would be much uproar here if she got fired for it.

Remember, the Constitutional protection for free speech only extends to protection from criminal prosecution. It doesn't cover private sanction such as termination of employment, etc.

caw

blacbird said:

It may be BS, but employers are private entities, and have pretty wide leeway to expect and enforce certain behaviors on employees. If she'd contributed, say, a racist diatribe to a KKK website, I doubt there would be much uproar here if she got fired for it.

Remember, the Constitutional protection for free speech only extends to protection from criminal prosecution. It doesn't cover private sanction such as termination of employment, etc.

caw

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The protection for free speech protects against all state action (not just criminal prosecution), so if she were a state employee who the state threatened to terminate due to her writings then she might actually have a cause of action here.

Mr. Chuckletrousers said:

The protection for free speech protects against all state action (not just criminal prosecution), so if she were a state employee who the state threatened to terminate due to her writings then she might actually have a cause of action here.

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Maybe, maybe not. But a moot point, as (according to how I read the story) she's privately employed.

And, I know state employees whose contracts explicitly prohibit them from certain off-duty activities, including unauthorized publication of some forms of writing. Usually this is invoked to cover technical work related to their jobs, but I'm sure it could get invoked in an instance of the sort described in the OP as well.

caw

blacbird said:

Maybe, maybe not. But a moot point, as (according to how I read the story) she's privately employed.

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It is indeed moot.

Bubastes said:

An associate at a law firm was prohibited by her employer from continuing her online erotic novel. So, what are your thoughts? Did the firm do the right thing or the wrong thing? Did the author show poor judgment? Or did the law firm overstep its bounds on dictating what its employees can and can't do in their off hours?

http://abajournal.com/news/allen_overy_bans_senior_associates_racy_online_novel/

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I would be furious if this happened to me. She's an erotica writer not a hooker. How DARE they do this? What right do they have? If she wants to write erotica that's her business.

Atlantis said:

I would be furious if this happened to me. She's an erotica writer not a hooker. How DARE they do this? What right do they have? If she wants to write erotica that's her business.

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And it is their business whether they want to employ her. If they don't want to employ someone who writes erotica under her own name and poses semi-nude on the internet then that is entirely within their rights.

I think it's totally within bounds to require a certain standard of behavior of your employees on their free time. As a business owner you spend years building up a good reputation and trust within your community. Why should it be okay for your employees to go out and ruin it? No, erotica writing isn't evil, but it is something that one may not want one's lawyer doing.

I used to work at a summer camp. The counselors were allowed to do whatever they wanted in their free time. They were also allowed to wear their camp t-shirts in their free time. But they WEREN'T allowed to do stuff like act rowdy, drink alcohol in public, or engage in general bufoonery in their free time while wearing their camp t-shirts. Why? You can be the best camp counselor in the universe, but if a camp parent ran into you staggering drunk at a bar in the city, then what would they think of your ability to care for their most precious small children? Drinking isn't bad per say, but it can be seen as a negative trait in one who has to bear a heavy responsibility.

I'm a volunteer for an adaptive ski school. We aren't allowed to drink in public when we are wearing our gear with the name of the ski school on it, even if it's our 'day off'. The ski school's employees aren't allowed to either. Why? Because when we wear their name we represent them, and we have to put them in a good light. The fact that this woman is easily googleable at her erotica home page and on her company's website is the same sort of issue.

Atlantis said:

How DARE they do this? What right do they have?

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They have whatever rights she ceded to them when she signed her employment contract. If it's like the employment contracts of most of my attorney friends, it has a long section in it about how they can fire you if anything you do draws unwanted publicity to the firm, and gives them the right to define what publicity is unwanted.

And seeing that she's an attorney herself, she should be aware of what her employment contract does and does not permit.