Thanks to Facebook, a Canadian insurance company has revoked the disability benefits of a woman who had been out of work for more than a year and a half due to depression. Former IBM employee Nathalie Blanchard, 29, claims that she called her insurance company when her monthly sick-leave checks stopped coming and was told that she was deemed as able to return to work based on what it had found on her Facebook page.
The alleged smoking-gun evidence was Blanchard’s Facebook page, which Blanchard insists was set as private. She admits, though, that she had posted photos of herself on holiday at the beach and at a Chippendale’s show. But, she said, she had gone on trips to exotic destinations and partied it up at local bars only because of doctor’s orders. Her doctor had advised her to take short getaways to sunny locales to escape her problems.
But, she said, those getaways were no more than band-aids on a far bigger problem. She’s still depressed, she claimed. “In the moment, I’m happy, but before and after I have the same problems,” she said. Which is why she’s so confused about why the insurance company has cut off her benefits.