An appeals court decided that a teacher could not…
Last week, an appeals court decided that a teacher could not sue the school district that fired her after it learned of her personal blog, which contained hostile and negative comments about her students. After she was fired, teacher Natalie Munroe sued the school district for violating her First Amendment right to free speech. A lower court sided with the school district. Munroe, who was employed by the Central Bucks School District in Pennsylvania, appealed—and lost.
Employment lawyer Matthew Soleimanpour said that, while different standards apply to public employers, such as school districts, and private employers, both must be aware of what type of speech is protected. Public employees are protected when discussing matters of “public concern,” while private employees are protected if they are talking about issues that affect the “terms and conditions” of their employment, he said. (I discussed cases where private employees’ negative social media comments were protected here and here.)
Munroe’s blog, which was intended for friends but was not password-protected, included her statements that parents were “breeding a disgusting brood of insolent, unappreciative, selfish brats.” In another post, she listed student evaluation comments she wished she could share with parents. These included, “There’s no other way to say this: I hate your kid."
In Munroe’s case, the court decided that the school district’s need to educate students without the distraction caused by the revelation of Munroe’s blog, was greater than the teacher’s right to express her disdain for her students. So, in firing Monroe, the school district had not improperly retaliated against her for exercising her free speech rights.
While complaining about work is nothing new, the ability to broadcast gripes through the Internet and social media means these cases will become increasingly common, said Soleimanpour. For that reason, employers must have clear, specific social media policies—most who face legal problems don’t, he said. On learning of a troubling employee statement, an employer should not take disciplinary action until raising the issue with human resources and its lawyer. Additionally, employers should not be overzealous in monitoring employees’ social media activity. “Trolling and acting like Big Brother is bad for morale,” said Soleimanpour.
