Community Corner

Patch's Poll: Should Employees Be Fired for Misconduct Outside the Workplace?

Some say WTIC shouldn't have fired Geoff Fox after private Facebook messages were revealed.

 

Meteorologist Geoff Fox lost his job with WTIC Fox CT Friday over a series of private Facebook messages that were copied and posted to a public website. The messages were said to be sexual in nature and exchanged with a woman who is not Fox's wife.

On Monday, several people in Fox's hometown of Hamden said they disagreed with the station's decision to fire him.

"I don't care what he does in his personal life. I want him to tell me what the weather is going to be, and I've been watching him do the weather for many years," said Bob Richardson, 61, a retired mechanic and lifelong Hamden resident. "I don't agree at all with them firing him, and I think it's a damn shame that he won't be on the air now because of it.

While WTIC would not comment, Quinnipiac University Journalism Professor Rich Hanley told Hamden Patch that it was likely Fox had a morals clause in his contract that called for his termination in just such a situation.

"Once [the emails] became public, they had no choice," Hanley said. "Once that sort of behavior is posted, it violated the policy and is cause for dismissal."

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On Sunday, Fox posted an apology on his blog and asked his former employers to reconsider his termination.

Should Fox have fired Fox?

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