Brixx Pizza firing highlights corporate social media policies
On May 17, the Charlotte Observer published a story about North Carolina-based pizza chain, Brixx and its firing of an employee who insulted a customer on her Facebook page while invoking the company name. Since then, the Associated Press and Huffington Post have recirculated the story, which has since gotten thousands of comments and tweets.
If it’s suffocation of free speech that has people buzzing, it’s for naught: In fact, the employee, Ashley Johnson, went against the corporate policy she signed when first hired, according to concept owner Jeff Van Dyke.
Van Dyke said the social media dictate is part of the regular policies and procedures of working with the chain. It states that employees shouldn’t give the impression that they represent Brixx as a company on their personal online outlets, nor say negative things concerning the chain in this realm.
“And in this particular instance, this server didn’t get as big a tip as she had hoped, even though they tipped her 17 percent,” he said. “And she posted some very negative stuff on Facebook and on a discussion page, and somehow that was sent back to a store, and it was a clear violation. She was let go.”
