Employee Monitoring and Communication

(Work) Employee Communication and Monitoring
According to Miller and Hollowell (2016), “the emergence of Facebook and other social networking sites has created a number of legal and ethical issues for businesses” (p. 98). In the recent past, there have been instances of people being fired because of posts or utterances made on their social media accounts. This is more so the case given that the line between professional life and personal life is increasingly being blurred, thanks to the prevalence of social media. One such instance involved Ashley Payne.
Summary of the Case
Payne, a high school teacher, was forced to resign from her teaching position after a parent complained of a picture she had posted in her Facebook account in 2009 holding alcoholic drinks in both of her hands. The school administration was also of the opinion that a B-word she had used in her page was offensive and unprofessional. The complaint made to the school administration came from a single parent. It is also important to note that at the time Payne made the said posts, her Facebook privacy settings were set to ‘high’, which effectively means that any picture posted could only be viewed by those who were her pals on the said social media platform. One of her friends on Facebook, it was revealed, was one of her students – effectively meaning that the said student had access to Payne’s profile. It was this particular student’s parent who filed an anonymous complaint against Payne.
Decision
Payne claimed that she was pressured to resign after the school gave her two options – suspension or resignation. It was after she reconsidered her decision to resign that she filed “a writ of mandamus alleging that the Georgia Fair Dismissal Act entitled Payne to a hearing and appropriate compensation” (Oppenheim, 2013). The school district on the other hand, as Oppenheim further points out filed a summary judgment motion, in response, whereby the court made a ruling to the effect that “Payne’s resignation meant that she was disqualified for protection under the act.”
Personal Opinion
I am opposed to the court’s ruling in this case for a number of reasons. The court deemed Payne’s resignation as having been willful – especially given that two options were presented to her, i.e. resignation or suspension. She had the freedom of choosing either. There is another larger matter, however, that ought to be examined in this case. Should employees be punished for posts made on their social media accounts? This is the question that the court ought to have addressed. In other words, did the school abuse its authority in seeking to punish Payne? It is important to note that the decision taken by the school was punitive, with regard to the options offered to Payne. The legal repercussion of her resignation, being one of the two punitive measures taken by the school, ought not to have been the key issue for determination. In my opinion, therefore, the court’s decision was not reasonable. Having said that, the posts Payne made on Facebook did not warrant of the punishment options adopted by the school. This is more so the case given that there was nothing in her post to suggest that she was promoting alcoholism. Further, the B-word was used in a playful nature in reference to an event by the same name. The school, in my opinion, ought to have let Payne off-the-hook on this particular issue with just a simple warning, especially given that the school had a policy on improper online behavior. It is instructive to note that not all social media guidelines by organizations are deemed legal (Miller, 2016). In the final analysis, Payne’s behavior was not improper. However, it could have been improper if Payne had shared posts promoting alcohol abuse, had posed in an inappropriate manner, or had habitually made use of expletives in random posts.
References
Miller, R.L. & Hollowell, W.E. (2016). Business Law: Texts and Exercise (8th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Miller, R.L. (2016). Business Law Today (11th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Oppenheim, R. (2013). High School Teacher Files an Appeal in Case of Social Media Related Resignation. Retrieved from https://www.californiabusinesslitigation.com/2013/05/high_school_teacher_files_an_a.html