Woman sends email in ALL Caps and gets FIRED

I've heard of people getting fired for a number of things: not showing up to work on time, stealing overtime, smoking weed. But sending an email in all caps? Really?

An accountant, Vicki Walker, recently won a lawsuit against New Zealand-based ProCare, where she was fired in 2007 for sending emails with text formatted in a variety of red, bold, and all caps fonts. ProCare has been ordered to pay New Zealand dollars $17,000 (US $11,500/€8000)  for unfair dismissal.

Walker had sent emails to fellow workers within the company, usually with "stern and detailed" instructions on how forms should be properly filled out. Her boss felt that her emails were "confrontational" and caused "disharmony in the workplace" and in December of 2007 she was fired without warning.

Walker, sued for wrongful termination and won the case. The money awarded was for lost wages and for other unspecified harm caused due to the firing.

Walker claims that the one email used in evidence was in regard to how her team should fill claim forms, and specifies a time and date highlighted in bold red, and a sentence written in capitals and highlighted in bold blue. It reads: "To ensure your staff claim is processed and paid, please do follow the below checklist."

I don't like passive aggressive people anymore than the next person... and this whole situation reeks of passive-aggressiveness. Walker was too passive aggressive in her emails. And her boss was too passive aggressive to sit her down and discuss with her the fact that her emails were off-putting or downright upsetting to her co-workers. But seeing as how he didn't do that, and Walker reportedly suffered a number of hardships during the past 2 years of joblessness, like not being able to keep up with her mortgage payments, I think she should've gotten more money. She might still, she's taking them back to court.