Labor Attorneys Agree: The Adria Richards Firing Will Be Hard to Defend

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141. yeah, it certainly could have been handled that way. otoh,

when you go to a public conference you are also acting as an ambassador for your company, and if you represent your company poorly you can easily cause more damage in a moment than the good you do all year.

to my mind the situation is far more severe than in a workplace where you might have offended only a few co-workers. in that situation, you can give warnings, sensitivity training, etc. the offended co-workers can see the offender is being punished, see that management is (hopefully) responding appropriately, etc.

in the conference situation, the damage to the image may be dramatic and widespread, and there's little the company can do other than firing the offender that the offended public can see as being appropriate. people outside a company aren't easily satisfied by anything short of a firing.