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Grade school teacher’s aide fired for refusing to hand over Facebook password
Yahoo News ^ | 4/2/2012 | Yahoo News

Posted on 04/02/2012 3:27:33 PM PDT by Dallas59

Kimberly Hester, a grade school teacher's aide in Michigan, was fired for refusing to hand over her Facebook password to her supervisors. Hester posted a picture of a co-workers' shoes and pants bunched around her ankles on Facebook in April 2011 with the caption, "Thinking of you." She posted the picture in jest, but a parent who's on her Facebook friend list saw the image and reported it to Frank Squires Elementary where Hester was employed, prompting the investigation.

Teachers have gotten in trouble for Facebook status messages before, but in Hester's case, it's her refusal to hand over her password that actually got her fired. One of the supervisors from the Lewis Cass Intermediate School District (ISD), the regional service center for education in Michigan, even wrote her a letter when she refused to give them her password for the third time. Part of the letter read: "... in the absence of you voluntarily granting Lewis Cass ISD administration access to you[r] Facebook page, we will assume the worst and act accordingly." Lewis Cass wanted to put Hester on a paid administrative leave before they fired her, but she chose to go on an unpaid leave because she believes she did nothing wrong. She plans to use the letter she received to sue the school district.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: employer; facebook; kimberlyhester; password; socialnetworks
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To: TomGuy
If she posted to Facebook from elsewhere, she call tell them to suck eggs, and sue them for wrongful termination.

Maybe not. If my employer came across any posts on Facebook or another forum (even if posted from my own home) that: (1) was obviously posted under my own name and identity, and (2) cast a bad impression on my company among people who know me as an employee of the firm ... then they would have every right to fire me.

21 posted on 04/02/2012 4:16:26 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested.")
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To: EEGator

Did Bumblegunner get a dose of his own “personal responsibility?

Humblegunner:
This account has been banned or suspended.

I am not sure if it is funny or strange.


22 posted on 04/02/2012 4:17:36 PM PDT by AlexW
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To: cuban leaf

Is the second one for crazy pics, your employer, or for creepin’?


23 posted on 04/02/2012 4:19:29 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: AlexW
What does her password have to do with anything?

I guess that would depend upon where the irresponsible little tart works.

If she's inclined to be talking crap about co-workers, then she might also be inclined to be giving out proprietary information.

Or security-sensitive information. Who knows what the tart might do.

Getting fired is about the mildest thing she should expect.

24 posted on 04/02/2012 4:20:02 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: AlexW

As long as you’ve been here, you should know it’s considered very bad form to talk about folks without pinging them.


25 posted on 04/02/2012 4:22:55 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: AlexW

I think that is a fake banned screen that he put as a joke. You can’t click the okay button.

It does bother me how some conservatives believe this is okay for employers to do. Where does it end?


26 posted on 04/02/2012 4:23:06 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: humblegunner

I guess ping to #26.


27 posted on 04/02/2012 4:26:10 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: humblegunner

To be fair, he thought you were banned. Why would he ping a banned person?


28 posted on 04/02/2012 4:27:55 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: Longbow1969

1984 big brother fascist society coming true.


29 posted on 04/02/2012 4:29:10 PM PDT by citizen (Santorum: Man up, stop being selfish and get the hell out. Dragging this thing out only helps Obama.)
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To: CAluvdubya
"What is wrong with the stupid parent for complaining about something like this? Surely there must be more to this story.... " Maybe it was really the parent's shoes and bunched up pants.
30 posted on 04/02/2012 4:29:36 PM PDT by hummingbird
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To: humblegunner

“I guess that would depend upon where the irresponsible little tart works.
If she’s inclined to be talking crap about co-workers, then she might also be inclined to be giving out proprietary information.
Or security-sensitive information. Who knows what the tart might do.”
________________________________________________________

That is a awful lot of supposition on your part.
If that is true, she could well be subject to being fired,
and probably should be, but that has nothing to do with the issue of demanding her password.


31 posted on 04/02/2012 4:35:06 PM PDT by AlexW
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To: EEGator; AlexW
Why would he ping a banned person?

Perhaps for the same reason he would misspell someone's name when he thought they were safely banned and couldn't respond.

That would be because he's a weak-assed coward, unless I miss my guess.

32 posted on 04/02/2012 4:35:34 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: Dallas59
This trend of employers demanding passwords to electronic accounts/activities not conducted during working hours, and not using company property, needs to be settled legally, and not allowed.

OTOH, if any company or government computers or Internet accounts were used, it is obviously perfectly legal for those employers to demand full password protected access to any electronic records generated from their resources.

So this case could go either way.

33 posted on 04/02/2012 4:38:46 PM PDT by sarasmom ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xZsFe6dM3EY)
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To: AlexW

That’s a joke added to his account page. If it were real, you wouldn’t see any flag, links, date of sign up, etc.


34 posted on 04/02/2012 4:41:26 PM PDT by newzjunkey (Newt says, "A nominee that depresses turnout won't beat Barack Obama.")
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To: EEGator

Okay, thanks; didn’t know that.


35 posted on 04/02/2012 4:46:34 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (I'd vote for a "orange juice can", before 0bummer&HisRegimeFromHell, gets another 4yrs. Can-> later.)
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To: Dallas59
but a parent who's on her Facebook friend list saw the image and reported it to Frank Squires Elementary where Hester was employed, prompting the investigation.

I hate snitches!
36 posted on 04/02/2012 4:46:58 PM PDT by microgood
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To: carriage_hill

No problem. :)


37 posted on 04/02/2012 4:48:15 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: Dallas59
Is there anything an employer can't demand of an employee as a condition of continued employment, not specifically spelled out in a contract? Can he ask for the keys to your house? Demand that you sleep with him? Marry him? Turn over your firstborn to him?
38 posted on 04/02/2012 4:52:43 PM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: hummingbird
Maybe it was really the parent's shoes and bunched up pants.

Bwahahaha! That must be it!

39 posted on 04/02/2012 4:54:32 PM PDT by CAluvdubya
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To: Kaosinla
It's interesting to me to read others opinions of an employee's online presence in relation to employers. I feel the same way you do. An online presence belongs to the individual not the employer. It was mine before I took this job and will be mine long after I'm gone. However I also feel that if the employer doesn't like some part of your online presence they can request you change it or fire you if they feel it makes the company look bad.

The company I work for decided that senior management on up needed to have LinkedIn accounts and went about making them for anyone that didn't already have one. When they tried to make one in my name they found out I already had an account. They requested my credentials for some still unknown reason and I refused. It got pretty tense, but I decided my online presence was mine and I wasn't going to surrender it even if it meant termination. I felt that if they had a problem with the content in this account they could bring it to my attention and I would decide if I was willing to change it to remain employed with them.

I guess they decided I was beneficial enough to the company that they could overlook it because they eventually dropped the subject.

40 posted on 04/02/2012 4:54:36 PM PDT by Usually_Disappointed (I think the tree of liberty is getting thirsty...)
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