Last week, Dixon Wilson lost an unfair dismissal case in France against Catherine Sanderson aka anonymous blogger La Petite Anglaise. Ms Sanderson writes a blog about expat life as a single mother in Paris. She rarely mentioned her work as a secretary and never mentioned her employer or the industry. However, a photo of her appeared in the public domain and she was fired. The reason given was that Ms Sanderson had brought the firm into disrepute. The tribunal disagreed and awarded her the equivalent of a year's salary in compensation and legal costs. They also ordered that Dixon Wilson repay all the unemployment benefit paid to her by the French social security system. It's an interesting case that holds lessons for us all.

Having lived in France for some years, I was always certain Dixon Wilson could never win. French employment laws are notoriously restrictive upon employers, even in cases of insolvency. More to the point, it was always a case that would bring notoriety. By the time Dixon Wilson fired her, La Petite Angalise had become popular across a broad readership. Once the news of here dismissal broke, the blogosphere went wild. Comments and support from a relatively small number of prominent bloggers catapulted the story into mainstream media. Last week's news reached the front page of the Yorkshire Post, into the Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.

Among the 200+ comments to Ms Sanderson's post on the topic, two comments stand out. Passante says:

If your former employers have any sense, they’ll decide they’ve had enough press exposure being made to look stupid, and will not appeal, given that they’d just get more of the same. I would think that paying you the money would be a small price for being able to recede from the limelight.

An increasing number of bloggers are as influential as mainstream media pundits. Blogs work virally so posts and comments can destroy reputations just as quickly as they can build them. In this case, I'd wager there are 200+ English speaking bloggers who will never forget the name Dixon Wilson and will never engage their services. Its' reputation as an employer has been shattered.

Another commenter opines:

If I owned the company, I would have used my head, sat down with her, and spoken to her about it first before resorting to an immediate firing. I would have laid out company policy and guidelines, and made absolutely certain that no policies were being violated. I would have also spoken with her to make sure she understood that while her blog is her right to have, she would need to ensure that the company was not open to being identified in any way.

Ms Sanderson had done the best she could but on the Internet, no-one is wholly anonymous. Could Dixon Wilson have used Ms Sanderson's popularity to enhance its reputation?

• It takes surprisingly little effort to create a viral effect. Last November, Stormhoek created a clever campaign on behalf of Threshers. using the popular Gapingvoid blog as the medium through which to run the promotion. The campaign generated £15 million in additional business for Threshers. Cost? Pretty much zero.
  
• Blogging provides a way to expose hidden talent. The attention Ms Sanderson drew has earned her a two-book deal from Penguin. Given that the next generation of qualified staff will come from the MySpace crowd, it makes sense to use blog technology to discover and nurture that talent.
• Blogs are a learning environment. I've been following Neil McIntyre's progress towards qualification as a Canadian CA. His insights across a broad range of accounting related topics provide useful perspectives for which we can all draw.
• Humour helps. Russ Fox's take on those who defraud the IRS is always a fun if salutary read.
• Watch the lawyers. There has been an explosion in the number of legal blogs. Many are American but they provide terrific insights into US tax and legal issues. The UK is catching on fast.
  
• Blogs can be dangerous. Regardless of the good blogs can bring, if they're written on behalf of the firm then they require mediation and a code of conduct. Some blog fanatics may regard this as heresy but it's good business sense. If the business owns the blog, then it has every right to set the boundaries. If it doesn't then the firm should consider how terms of employment might be amended to prevent malicious posts.