Y’know, just the other day I was having this conversation at my day job with co-workers. Can you get fired by posting something online? Specifically social network sites like Facebook?

Well, British Airways suspended 15 cabin crew members because they allegedly posted inappropriate comments on their Facebook pages.

About a dozen cabin crew have been suspended while investigations are being carried out. The suspensions had to do with a number of reasons, including inappropriate comments the staffers posted online.

BA is locked in a long-standing dispute with cabin crew over issues including wages, job security and working conditions. The union has called for a strike vote by members. 15 flight attendants allegedly wrote Facebook comments and sent private emails about a “name and shame” list of pilots who volunteered to help break any strike.

The airline has also demanded that unions reveal the identities of a further 32 members of the cabin crew who posted messages about the list on a thread on its discussion forum.

The wave of suspensions began last weekend, after one cabin crew worker acquired a list of 40 pilots who had volunteered to work as cabin stewards should a strike be called. That worker posted a message on a Facebook page saying they had the list, and asking others what should they do with it.

Those under investigation received calls from airline management, ordering them to attend meetings at the crew report center. Those meetings have resulted in 17 suspensions so far, it is believed. Some of those suspended insist they had not read the Facebook message, nor replied to it. Others, who were not Facebook friends, say they were suspended because someone else had messaged news of the list to them through Facebook. So, most were suspended on the basis of guilt by association.

On the whole, it is an obvious witch hunt. However, it does give one an idea of just how careful you should be on websites like Facebook. This story is only the latest example of how social networking, blogs and the internet can be your undoing in the workplace.