Posted 10/27/2004 06:15:00 PM by Douglas

Bloggers beware! You're going to get fired. At least Ellen Simonetti did, and for seemingly no reason. [Thanks, long time reader!]

Queen of the Sky, otherwise known as Ellen Simonetti, evolved into an anonymous semi-fictional account of life in the sky.

But after she posted pictures of herself in uniform, Delta Airlines suspended her indefinitely without pay.

Ms Simonetti was told her suspension was a result of "inappropriate" images. Delta Airlines declined to comment.

"I was really shocked, I had no warning," Ms Simonetti told BBC News Online.

"I never thought I would get in trouble because of the blog. I thought if they had a problem, someone would have said something before taking action."

The issue has highlighted concerns amongst the growing blogging community about conflicts of interest, employment law and free speech on personal websites.

Ms Simonetti was suspended on 25 September pending an investigation and has since lodged a complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Who would have thought that a personal website would get you fired. . . unless you took questionable (however harmless) pictures inside company property. It still seems like a pretty lame reason that Delta fired her, but after a quick look at her blog, it makes me want to fire her on content alone (and no, I don't have a foot fetish).

Anyone dumb enough to blog about, or even worse, from, work, deserves what they get. I'm sure her attorneys will have this one tied up in the courts for years to come.