Presentation given to Lunch with Leaders at IPFW September 18th, 2013

1. FACEBOOK FIRED:
HOW DO I AVOID BEING FIRED
OR SCREENED OUT?
Kimberly O’Connor, J.D., Assistant Professor of OLS
Gordon Schmidt, PhD., Assistant Professor of OLS
09/18/2013

2. Social Media
• Sites that allow you to share user generated
content with others
• How many of you have a Facebook account?
• How many of you use it daily?
• How many of you are using it right now?
• What other sites do you use?

3. What you share on Facebook
• How many of you use the privacy
settings built in to Facebook?
• How do you restrict access?
• Our friends have a big impact
– Research by Burke et al. (2009) found that the first
two weeks on a site are crucial for your privacy
behavior
– In that period people look to friends’ behavior to
determine what is appropriate

4. Social Media and Work
• Do you think your employer should be able to
look at your social media posts?
• Do You think that First Amendment Freedom of
Speech protects all forms of speech, including
what is posted on-line?
• Social Media usage can have impact on people’s
jobs.
• A number of firings and disciplining of workers
based on worker’s posts
• Example: Video: Is a “Like” Protected Speech?

5. Employee
Classifications
• At – Will - An employee whose
employment is for an indefinite
duration and can be hired or fired at
the employer’s discretion.
• Union – A worker whose
wages, hours, and working conditions
are negotiated through a collective
bargaining agreement.
• Public Employees – A
person who is employed in the public
sector and whose work is controlled by
governmental bodies, whether at the
federal, state, or local level.

6. Public Employees and Free Speech
• The First Amendment
states that Congress
shall make no
law….abridging the
freedom of speech.
• For Public Employees
First Amendment rights
exist for matters of
“Public Concern” only.

7. Payne v. Barrow County School
District: (2009).
• Georgia High School English Teacher, Ashley
Payne, posted pictures of her summertime
European vacation on her Facebook page. She also
posted a status update with the word
“BIT_ _ES.”
• Payne had her privacy settings set to “Private.” She
had no students as FB “Friends.”
• A Parent complained. The school corporation gave
her the ultimatum, resign or be fired. Payne
resigned and then filed suit.
• GA court held that her contract was up by the time
she had her day in court. Case was moot.
• Do you think this outcome was fair?

8. National Labor Relations Act – “NLRA.” Section 7 of
the NLRA gives employees the right to engage in
“concerted activities” for their “mutual aid and
protection.”
“Protected Concerted Activity” includes two or more
employees acting together to address a collective
employee concern about work terms or conditions.
Employers cannot take action to restrain such activity.

9. • BMW Dealership held a sales event to
introduce a new BMW design.
• A salesman posted negative
comments, along with pictures of the
event.
• Also, the salesman posted pictures and
comments about an accident at a Land
Rover dealership also owned by the
BMW Dealership.
• The Salesman was discharged for
violation of the Dealership’s Courtesy
Rule.
• NLRB held that the Land Rover posts
were not “protected concerted
activity” and by themselves enough to
affirm the termination.
• NLRB ordered employer to rescind or
modify the language of the Courtesy
Rule.
•
Karl Knauz Motors, Inc., 358 NLRB No.
164 (Sep. 28, 2012).

10. Design Technology Group, LLC, 359
NLRB No. 96 (April 19, 2013).
• Three employees complained
about their Supervisor on
Facebook.
• Supervisor was informed of
posts by another employee
who also gave the supervisor
access. Employees terminated.
• NLRB held that the employees
comments were “protected
concerted activity.”

11. Posted negative comments about teen
pregnancy on a public blog. A complete
stranger (1,200 miles away) copied her
comments and sent them to the
employer she listed on her FB page.
Ulrich was fired.

12. Social Media and
College Students
• Student Teacher Stacy Snyder was in her last
semester of college at Millersville University
in PA.
• She was assigned to student teach High
School English. She was warned not to share
social media with her students.
• Snyder had a MySpace page and told her
students about it. They accessed the page
and found pictures like her “Drunken Pirate”
picture.
• Millersville refused to give her a degree in
Education. She instead received a degree in
English.

13. Selection: Who Is Potentially
Screening You?
• 45% to 91% of organizations look at applicant
social networking sites for screening purposes
• 23% of universities are doing so as well
• Some research even suggests this might be
useful- Kleumper et al (2009) estimated
applicants personality characteristics through
social media profile and they were found to
relate to actual performance on the job

14. Selection Challenges
• Great amount of potential information available
to recruiters through social media
• But is it accurate? Is it legal?
• Example: definition of binge drinking
• If A Facebook picture shows you and these 5
bottles at a party, how much did you drink?

15. • Understand What Type of
Employee You Are and
What Laws May or May
Not Apply.
1
• Know YourEmployer’s
Social Media Policy and
Follow It!
2
• Set Your Privacy Settings
Be Cautious About What
You Post, Even On Blogs
and Other’s Pages.
3
What Can You Do To Protect Yourself?