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| Authored by: mcinsand on Tuesday, May 01 2012 @ 05:00 PM EDT |
1970's McEnroe to umpires: 'You cannot be serious!'
That is the best reaction to an assertion that a CEO's public statements on
business policy and positions are merely 'personal,' no matter what the arena.
It is simply ridiculous.
Let's use the technique of AIP ('Assumption for Indirect Proof,' not API) and
say that a CEO's comments in a blog or wherever are merely personal. The CEO of
a company is never off the clock, especially when commenting on company
activities, however, we'll play a thought game. Sun knew about Schwartz' blogs
so, if the statements were not corporate, then any marginally competent lawyer
would have required big, prominent disclaimers. It's safe to say that Schwart'z
comments would have been buried in the boilerplate. Furthermore, even if Sun,
or any other company, had a CEO making public statements that did not match
company positions, do you really think that those statements would be allowed to
rest unaddressed? Would the webpage with the content stay up for more than a
day?
Legally, look at what happens when any employee is even at a party and starts
talking business. If a competitor is present, a potential hornet's nest exists.
Even casually mentioning pricing can bring charges of collusion, no matter how
innocent. One company I was with was fined $¼B for a conversation that, when I
read it, mentioned pricing without anything I saw as a hint at making a deal.
Governmental authorities saw it differently, though. These were a couple of
executives that bumped into each other at a party, exchanged what seemed to be
pleasantries, and someone overheard.
Even if the government is not involved, though, I know of no company that
permits public discussions of business activities to merely be personal. Even
if the discussion is not damaging, employees that discuss corporate stances can
easily be fired, if the discussion is deemed by the company to be in
appropriate. Especially if the statements go against corporate positions or
contain legally-protected information, the employee stands an excellent chance
of being fired.
Again, with respect to Mr. Schwartz' blog comments having no weight, 'you cannot
be serious!'[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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