Ellen Simonetti
Encyclopedia
Ellen Simonetti is a former flight attendant
who was fired after documenting her life and work experiences on a blog
in the early 2000s. Although Simonetti never mentioned the airline
by name, her employer Delta Air Lines
, deeming some of the blog content inappropriate, suspended and then fired her.
and Raleigh
, North Carolina
. She spent a year in Bern, Switzerland as a high school exchange student, later dropping out of high school
to become first a travel agent and then a flight attendant. She was first employed in the flight industry in 1996 with a charter airline based in Miami, Florida
.
After the charter went out of business, Simonetti was hired by Delta Air Lines
. During her eight years with Delta, she flew German
, Spanish
, and Italian
routes with the airline and completed her Bachelor of Arts
degree in Spanish
at the University of Texas at Austin
.
. In addition to describing events of her life, Simonetti also described travel abroad, mainly Europe and South America, while working for Delta Air Lines. Simonetti adopted the nom de plume
"Queen of Sky" for her blog. With practical information on worldwide travel described in a quirky, irreverent tone, the blog developed a considerable following.
In late 2004, Simonetti was suspended and then fired after Delta Air Lines objected to Ellen posing for photographs on a company airplane and commentary on her blog. Simonetti subsequently renamed her blog "Diary of a Fired Flight Attendant."
issues involved.
Simonetti advocates that:
Other individuals who have been fired for content in their personal blogs include Heather Armstrong
, Jessica Cutler
, Catherine Sanderson
, Christine Axsmith
, and Jan Pronk
, United Nations
Special Representative for Sudan
, who was given three days notice to leave Sudan after the Sudanese army demanded his deportation for comments in his weblog.
against Delta (Simonetti v. Delta Air Lines Inc., No. 5-cv-2321 (N.D. Ga. 2005)), alleging sex discrimination and retaliation
, among other things.
Simonetti has discussed personal blogging rights on The Montel Williams Show
and the Larry Elder
show. She set up a Bloggers Rights petition and was a founding member of the Committee to Protect Bloggers.
Simonetti has written articles for the news media
including The New York Times
and CNET
, adapted her blog to a published book, and has worked in real estate
.
On her website she says that although she has kept her real estate licence, she is not using this and has "...gone back to school at the University of Texas (undergrad), where I'm currently a journalism major, but soon to be an RTF (radio/TV/film) major".
Recently on her blog she claims that a film company is to make a film about her life and she has agreed to this.
In December 2008, the host of her blog, Journalspace, lost all their database data effectively ending the blog. No backup of Journalspace's contents exists. Simonetti now has a new blog entitled The Queen of the Screen.
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
who was fired after documenting her life and work experiences on a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
in the early 2000s. Although Simonetti never mentioned the airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
by name, her employer Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...
, deeming some of the blog content inappropriate, suspended and then fired her.
Early life and airline career
Ellen Simonetti, one of three siblings, was raised in DurhamDurham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
and Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. She spent a year in Bern, Switzerland as a high school exchange student, later dropping out of high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
to become first a travel agent and then a flight attendant. She was first employed in the flight industry in 1996 with a charter airline based in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
.
After the charter went out of business, Simonetti was hired by Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...
. During her eight years with Delta, she flew German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
routes with the airline and completed her Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
.
Blog and dismissal
Ellen Simonetti began her "Queen of Sky: Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant" blog in September 2003 as a form of therapy after the loss of her mother to cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. In addition to describing events of her life, Simonetti also described travel abroad, mainly Europe and South America, while working for Delta Air Lines. Simonetti adopted the nom de plume
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
"Queen of Sky" for her blog. With practical information on worldwide travel described in a quirky, irreverent tone, the blog developed a considerable following.
In late 2004, Simonetti was suspended and then fired after Delta Air Lines objected to Ellen posing for photographs on a company airplane and commentary on her blog. Simonetti subsequently renamed her blog "Diary of a Fired Flight Attendant."
Employers and bloggers
These events became emblematic of the issue of employees' rights to communicate their own views of their work and workplace versus employers' rights to restrict them. There was considerable media coverage of Simonetti's firing and the freedom of expressionFreedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
issues involved.
Simonetti advocates that:
- employers should have clear, unambiguous blogging policies so that employees can foresee the potential for disciplinary action, and
- the penalty for a first offense should be a formal warning rather than dismissal.
Other individuals who have been fired for content in their personal blogs include Heather Armstrong
Heather Armstrong
Heather B. Armstrong is an American blogger who resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. She writes under the pseudonym of Dooce...
, Jessica Cutler
Jessica Cutler
Jessica Louise Cutler is a blogger, an author, and former congressional staff assistant who was fired for detailing her active sexual life, including receiving money for having sex, in her blog.-Education:...
, Catherine Sanderson
Petite Anglaise
Petite Anglaise is the pseudonym of Catherine Sanderson, a British blogger living in Paris, whose blog articles caused her to be sacked from Dixon Wilson Chartered Accountants...
, Christine Axsmith
Christine Axsmith Affair
Christine Axsmith is a computer security expert who was fired from BAE Systems, a CIA contractor, for posting on a top-secret internal government blog that "waterboarding is torture, and torture is wrong"....
, and Jan Pronk
Jan Pronk
Johannes "Jan" Pieter Pronk is a Dutch politician and diplomat. Currently, he is a Professor of Theory and Practice of International Development at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague....
, United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Special Representative for Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, who was given three days notice to leave Sudan after the Sudanese army demanded his deportation for comments in his weblog.
Aftermath
In 2005, Simonetti filed a lawsuitLawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
against Delta (Simonetti v. Delta Air Lines Inc., No. 5-cv-2321 (N.D. Ga. 2005)), alleging sex discrimination and retaliation
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
, among other things.
Simonetti has discussed personal blogging rights on The Montel Williams Show
The Montel Williams Show
The Montel Williams Show is a syndicated talk show hosted by Montel Williams. On January 30, 2008 it was announced that The Montel Williams Show would stop production on new episodes at the end of the 2007-2008 television season after seventeen years...
and the Larry Elder
Larry Elder
Laurence Allen "Larry" Elder is an American radio and television personality. His radio program The Larry Elder Show airs weekdays 9 AM to noon on talk radio 790 KABC in Los Angeles, California...
show. She set up a Bloggers Rights petition and was a founding member of the Committee to Protect Bloggers.
Simonetti has written articles for the news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
including The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and CNET
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
, adapted her blog to a published book, and has worked in real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
.
On her website she says that although she has kept her real estate licence, she is not using this and has "...gone back to school at the University of Texas (undergrad), where I'm currently a journalism major, but soon to be an RTF (radio/TV/film) major".
Recently on her blog she claims that a film company is to make a film about her life and she has agreed to this.
In December 2008, the host of her blog, Journalspace, lost all their database data effectively ending the blog. No backup of Journalspace's contents exists. Simonetti now has a new blog entitled The Queen of the Screen.
External links
- "Employers Wrestle With Blogosphere." Jason Boog, The National Law JournalThe National Law JournalThe National Law Journal, a U.S. periodical founded in 1978, reports legal information of national importance to attorneys, including federal circuit court decisions, verdicts, practitioners' columns, coverage of legislative issues and legal news for the business and private sectors.The...
, April 5, 2005. - SaaSconSoftware as a ServiceSoftware as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
corporate blogging workshops for a 2005 International Data Group conference. - Sun MicrosystemsSun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
policy for company-hosted employee blogs. - Electronic Frontier FoundationElectronic Frontier FoundationThe Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
employee blog advice. - The Committee to Protect Bloggers