Many drug companies have recently faced whistleblowers and bloggers revealing information those companies would rather have kept quiet. In light of this, the following story is of interest to any drug company PR executive.
Petite Anglaise is a Brit living in France. She was also an unknown blogger, until her employer, the Paris office of British accounting firm Dixon Wilson, found out what she was doing.
They were not amused, since she had happened to mention a few details about her boss on her blog (without identifying him or the firm).
And so, La Petite Anglaise was fired, on the spot.
This, of course, led to major headlines; the readership of her blog shot through the roof and she also landed a lucrative book deal, reportedly worth almost £500,000.
And now, Petite Anglaise can also relish in the knowledge that she was right and her employer wrong.
She won her wrongful dismissal claim, and today she announced on her blog that her "ex-employer not only does not intend to appeal, but has already paid up."
That seems to be the first smart move by Dixon Wilson, and perhaps a lesson to other trigger-happy bosses:
Think before you fire.
- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.
In the US she would have received nothing. No book deal, no "wrongful termination", nothing. But hey, we're free, right?
Posted by: Robert | August 08, 2007 at 03:11 PM