"Petite Anglaise" blogger seeks compensation for job loss
CNN is reporting that Catherine Sanderson, author of the deeply personal but frequently encoded blog La Petite Anglaise, is seeking compensation amounting to two years' salary after her employer, accountancy firm Dixon Wilson, fired her for "gross misconduct." The reason? Sanderson's blog allegedly put the company at risk.
Sanderson hopes to argue that, quite simply, she has a right to blog.
La Petite Anglaise details Sanderson's life as a British secretary living and working in France. Her sometimes-lengthy posts contain vivid and not-always-flattering descriptions of the people she encounters, including at the workplace, that have led readers and critics to compare her blog to the popular novel (and subsequent Renee Zellweger movie) Bridget Jones' Diary. While Sanderson rarely uses names--her ex-husband is "Mr. Frog" and their three-year-old daughter is "Tadpole"--the prose was revealing enough to worry higher-ups at Dixon Wilson.
The accountancy firm has refused to comment on the matter.
According to the the Urban Dictionary, the trendy term to describe a blog-related layoff is "dooced," named after Dooce, another blog with content that managed to get its owner sacked.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
