By Michael Margavitch, Columnist
Have you ever needed to vent about a severe case of the Mondays? Many use Facebook as a way to express their anger and frustration. It is common in college for students to post about their tyrannical professors or their aggravating assignments. However, after they grab their diplomas and make the morning commute to their cubicles, it is a completely different story.
Workplace professionals need to be careful about what they post on Facebook, as any show of disrespect may result in termination. However, this may not be the truth for much longer because of the National Labor Relations Act.
Take the story of E.M.T. Dawnmarie Souza of the ambulance service American Medical Response in Connecticut. On her Facebook page, Souza made many derogatory comments about her supervisor, whom she compared to a psychiatric patient in one instance.
Coincidentally, Souza's employment was terminated soon after these statuses were posted. American Medical Response claims that her termination was not due to Facebook, but resulted from rude behavior toward patients. Souza is not buying their claim, and with the assistance of the National Labor Relations Board, is trying to fight what she sees as wrongful termination.
How can Souza say that her firing is unjustified when she disrespected a superior online? The National Labor Act is the answer. This act not only gives employees the right to form unions, but it also to discuss working conditions without any negative action taken against them by the employers.
Souza and the Labor Board are using the second point to justify that the firing was unfair and unjust. This could be a breakthrough case if Souza is the victor.
People have long been hindered in their jobs by what appears on their social networking sites. If something is found in a Google search, or something unflattering appears on their page, it will affect their employment.
If the case goes in Souza's favor, then it is the first step in the right direction. What someone has on their social networking site is that person's business. I do not see how some compromising photos or words on Facebook would make somebody a bad representation of a company. As long as the employee performs their job effectively and behaves appropriately on the company's grounds, what they do in their free time should be their business.
Furthermore, most profiles have some privacy settings, so if the employers did not seek this information out by hiring people to break through these settings, then the compromising information would not be found. Employers need to take more of an interest in the employees' merit and on-site behavior rather than their personal lives.