Woman fired for ALL CAPS e-mail wins court fight
September 23, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Communication, HR Tech, In this week's e-newsletter - Tech, Latest News & Views
Writing in all caps is one of the most annoying e-mail etiquette breaches. But would one of your managers fire someone for it?
That’s exactly what happened to one woman in New Zealand. Vicki Walker, former controller for a health care company, was fired for sending what her boss called “confrontational” e-mails.
For example: One message advising her staff on how to fill out claim forms contained text in all capitals, as well as some statements in bold and red fonts.
Walker took the company to court for wrongful termination (New Zealand employees can only be fired for cause). The company defended its action by arguing that she caused “disharmony in the workplace.”
But the court didn’t buy it and awarded Walker $17,000. Annoying, yes, but misusing the caps lock key wasn’t a serious enough offense for termination.
Tags: all caps, e-mail, New Zealand
September 29th, 2009 at 9:39 am
WHY WOULD USING ALL CAPS BE CONSIDERED CONFRONTATIONAL?
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
September 29th, 2009 at 9:48 am
It is annoying to read an e-mail or text message with ALL CAPS, but some people can’t help themselves. I personally have noticed that the ones who insist on using all caps are usually the ones who are loud and boisterous in public so they’re keeping in form.
September 29th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I DONT KNOW DEBBIE!! LOL! At best, I think it was inappropiate email etiquette and should have warranted a warning, certainly not termination. Just another way wasting time on issues that are not that serious and probably not enough on issues that could really get the company in hot water. But then again, firing her for WRITING IN ALL CAPS, definitely landed them in a pot of boiling water..
September 29th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
SOMETIMES TYPING IN ALL CAPS IS JUST EASIER!!! FIRE ME!???? ARE YOU SERIOUS???? WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???? MAYBE THE RECIPIENTS, OF THE ALL CAP E-MAIL, NEEDED TO PAY ATTENTION TO HOW THEY REALLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN FILLING OUT THE CLAIM FORMS – SO WHAT’S WRONG WITH BRINGING THEIR ATTENTION TO SOMETHING THAT AFFECTS THEM? DON’T GET WHY THAT WAS VIEWED AS CONFRONTATIONAL??
September 29th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
my guess is that this employee had other behaviors that were counter productive that the manager found difficult to articulate (possible passive/ agressive behaviors, gossiping and rumor spreading, etc.) there are many ways to create distention in the workplace and harm the productivity and morale. perhaps if they were able to articulate those behaviors as well in court, they might have won the case. unfortunately, many of those behaviors go unnoticed until something like this occurs and then there is no evidence that these behaviors were addressed prior to the incident.
September 29th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I was about to say pretty much what Mike just said. I’ll bet there was more going on than just the emails. And it wasn’t just typing in all caps – she had used bold lettering and red fonts, too. As John was also saying, “the ones who insist on using all caps are usually the ones who are loud and boisterous”…I imagine she was not that nice in person, either, but this may have been the first time they had anything they really felt would show her attitude, and that was tangible enough to make it stick. The article said she got $17,000, but it doesn’t say she got her job back. I think if it had been a more clear case of a wrongful termination she would have gotten more than that.
September 29th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Seriously, email is completely emotionless. I know that sometimes the tone can be “assumed” based on the verbiage, but does not solidly indicate what this company assumed. I agree with a couple of the other responses that there is more to this than what has been reported on.
In this day and age we are dealing with “text messaging” etiquette, not with proper letter writing. Too much is up for interpretation and to assume without proof is definetly open for a lawsuit.
September 29th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I’ve never considered using all CAPS as confrontational, but more of an attention getter, or the individual is lazy and doesn’t want to bother using the shift key when appropriate. It’s easier to turn on the Caps Lock key and type away. Then on the other hand you have those who type in all lower case (sorry Mike) with no punctuation (you did include) and use acronyms expecting the recipient to understand what it means. Though I don’t care for it, it is a sign of the times. Call me old fashion, but I feel when it comes to business correspondence (especially with emails and resumes) we should always put our best foot forward and write as were taught in school….it’s being respectful. Leave the caps to EMPHASIZE particular words for better impact.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Who has the time to sit around and make the definitions of what “email etiquette” is and isn’t. Moreover, who is the “expert” who makes all the rules for email. I mean sure we all understand that all caps emails are used for emphasis but come on, we should all be big boys and girls and not allow all caps emails bother us anyway. There’s way too many other important things going on in the workplace than to worry about all caps emails. Talk about wasted time.
September 30th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Firing is a bit harsh, but doesn’t anyone else interpret all caps as yelling? Everyone I talked with does. Maybe she needs an anger management class.
September 30th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I was alwasy taught that all caps is expressed as “yelling”. Yelling is not appropriate in the workplace and it’s certainly not appropriate for a Controller to communicate with employees in this manner. I agree that sometimes too much thought is put in email but I also think that in a society when the younger generations especially communicate mostly in email we have no choice but to consider the perception of our emails. Some conversations and points are better said than written. I do agree however that there was obviously more to this than just the email and she was likely not fired for writing in caps but for her work behaviors.
September 30th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
What would have happened to this woman if she had used a typewriter, then handed these people a piece of paper with caps, underlines and red text. Would anyone have thought that she was yelling. People need to get a life and stop trying to fault with everyone around them. The all caps thing started back in the day when people were in chat rooms and if you typed in caps someone would ask why you are yelling.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
In all seriousness — TYPING CORRESPONDENCE IN ALL CAPS IS MUCH HARDER TO READ THAN UPPER/LOWER CASE LETTERS. IT IS HARD TO TELL WHERE ONE THOUGHT (OR SENTENCE) ENDS AND THE NEXT BEGINS … wouldn’t you agree?
October 13th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I agree Debbie that it is harder to read all caps. However, I have a friend who sends all e-mails in all caps and he isn’t ‘yelling’ – he learned how to read and write as an adult and it is amazing that he is on the internet at all. I forgive him his lack of typing skill which it index finger, one at a time (I’ve watched) . . . having to shift would make him even slower (his handwriting is block letters all caps too) . . . sometimes I think we need to make allowances for the inbetween generation who do not take to computers as easily as the younger generation. [I doubt this was the case in this instance though!]
March 4th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Just because you are given the title of Controller doesnt mean you are in place to control people, which is exactly what this woman was trying to achieve. When face to face communication is not possbile than you should pay particular attention to the communication you are practicing through your email. Writing in all caps is interpreted as yelling and reprimending. Working for a fairly large organization, your going to run into people of all sorts, that doesnt mean you treat them with a lack of respect, which im assuming, is exactly how the people on the receiving end of her email felt. While I do not agree with her termination, I would have definetly given her a warning!
March 4th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
I find no caps (and no punctuation) to be the worst. I’ve adjusted to all caps because the software my company uses in the field requires all entries to be made in capital letters, and many times the managers just forget to take off the cap lock when they need to send a quick email to someone in the corporate office. I’ve had to calm down a few people here who wanted to quit communicating with certain people in the field because they were tired of being “yelled” at.
March 8th, 2010 at 11:39 am
this really is all too hilarious !……….too funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL !