Thread: 'Personal' Life - When It No Longer Is

I always appreciate your input on things. I read this when you first posted it, and I immediately had a thought in mind I wanted to reply with, but I withheld it for the sake of not wanting to too immediately derail whatever conversation the main idea of this thread would bring forth. Now, a month later, I see that the topic's been a bit of a dud, so I'm back to present you with my query. In response to your final paragraph, I have to wonder if companies have the right to 'ask' you to refrain from openly badmouthing them. I understand you signed off on it 'of your own will,' but I write it that way because you don't have a realistic choice in the matter. If you don't sign it you don't get hired, I would assume. At the very least I would think the chances of you being hired if you don't sign it 'significantly lessen.' They'll get someone else who needs the job worse than you do. He's probably not in a situation where he can afford to let something like that prevent him from getting the job either. Most job hunters aren't. And when more companies start to do that, when it really catches on, then to get a job anywhere you'll have to sign a form saying you won't badmouth them openly. Is that something they have a right to take away? They can and they will for now, because no one out there has had both the money and the drive to fight it. I've read of a case here or there where someone was fired over a social networking post aimed toward their employer or coworkers and are trying to fight it in court, but I'm not sure if anything has come of those stories yet. These things sometimes take years. My basis for my thought though is this there are certain rights that you can't give away, even if you sign a document that says so. I'll use an extreme example to get my point across I take a blank piece of paper and write that Zombies Galore agrees to be my obedient servant for the rest of his life. You, sober, of your own will, sign it. I sign it. We have a witness that signs it. Bam, it's a legal agreement. Only, it's not valid, because slavery is illegal. I can't take your freedom from you, the same as you can't give it away. Now this may not be so extreme, but it's still a question of the freedoms of speech and of expression. When I am not on the clock, when I am on my own time, why should a company have any right to reprimand me for what I choose to do? I would say that this is something I hope unions would fight for, but sadly there's so few unions left nowadays. If we're to allow them that right, to police us outside of work, then where is the line drawn? Is it anything written? If I write a private, disparaging email to a friend, and that email gets passed along, should they be allowed to fire me? What if I just vocally say something and someone doesn't like what they hear? What if someone photoshops me Facebooking that I think my boss is a tranny, and that she smells of a fancy foreign cheese, claiming that I 'took it down' sometime after? What happens when it goes beyond just disrespecting them, when the job decides it doesn't want to be associated with the things I'm associated with? Maybe my place of work has made a campaign donation to one politician and doesn't like my post that I made a donation to that person's opposition. Your thoughts?