My son's career came to an end today, fired for MySpace

[Bombero1956]

Today the chief called my son into his office and gave him an ultimatum, resign or be fired. Somebody went on Myspace and printed out all my son's comments about work and his idea of fun. Long story short the chief claims that his comments bring the department into disrepute(a bullshit assertion). Because he's a probationary firefighter he has not union protection. To say I'm angry is an understatement.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Oh my dear Gar......

How horrible is this......

I am speechless.....don't know what to say.......

That has to be wrong!

I am so sorry.......... :hug:

[Bombero1956]

3. he was on the verge of tears

His words to me were "there's no easy way to say this but the chief is firing me because he didn't like what he saw on the internet" Somebody on the job printed out the pages and gave them to him. So it appears that there's a dirty sob on his department.

[Book Lover]

2. Oh how awful!

Every municiplaity needs more firefighters, and for him to be tossed out with no chance to explain, or even offer to change his page (if he wanted to) is really unfair. I am sorry to hear this news.

[xmas74]

4. Firefighters are in desperate need right now.

He might be able to find another job shortly.

To be fired over a MySpace page is bullshit but it's happening more and more. Just tell him to not get upset and to start looking for another job.

[Bombero1956]

8. I told him to tender his resignation

I don't work for the same department and my department is hiring 8 new members soon. Oh and when I see the chief, I'm going to tell him what I think of his bullshit policy and the asshole to did my son wrong, you see as a citizen and taxpayer in this community, the chief works for me. i work for a department 15 miles down the road and my chief has no use for the clown.

[xmas74]

9. Good.

Sounds like this setback will lead to better things in the future.

I used to dispatch police and fire. I know that there are not enough firefighters out there. (Not enough decent dispatchers out there either but that seems to be where most departments make their first cuts. Anyway...) For a chief to get rid of a firefighter in this day and age is just stupid.

(Make your son laugh and tell him that he probably unknowingly kept the pyro working there. I swear there's a budding one in each department.)

[Bombero1956]

10. my son told me

that he knows for a fact that there is a cocaine addict still working there.

[xmas74]

16. Why am I not surprised?

I used to hear stories from tweakers a few years ago about a guy that worked for a department that I worked at. They all swore he was a cook.

[ikojo]

5. There was an article in the NYT about this

very thing...how employers, who cannot ask certain questions in an interview, are using google to find out more about their employees and potential employees. They are reading myspace.com and facebook.com (when possible). The article suggested that college students, when applying for jobs clean up their myspace.com pages of excessive references to drinking and drunken behavior.

Summer camps are cracking down on counselors and campers who reference their camps on their myspace.com pages. They are afraid of their reputations.

Without union protection this is what happens.

Sorry your son got caught. Hopefully he can find a new job.

[bigwillq]

6. That's just bullshit.

:mad:

They don't know what they're losing. I am sure your son is a fine fireman. It's their loss.

:hug:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

7. My sister in law was almost fired for it.

They found her my space in their history. She wasn't looking at it, but she got into trouble anyway. It was called naughty nurse, and they thought it was a bad image thing for the hospital. She ended up not getting fired. We just figured they were trying to get out of their contract.
Duckie

[xchrom]

11. as dirty and lowdown as both the firing and the peeper

{yes that's what i think they are -- when they do things like this} were -- it sounds like it will have a better outcome for your son.

you have every right to be very pissed.

[reyd reid reed]

12. I'm so sorry this happened to him...

Really sucks that people can get into anything, doesn't it?

Internet can be a wonderful thing...and it can be scary as hell, too.

[Bombero1956]

13. here's a real kicker

they just made him pay $700 to take an EMT course that has only 3 weeks left before graduation. At the end of the course the city is required to reimburse him for the cost of the course. The ore I think about it the more I feel they set him up. Being Latino I have heard that he's of the opinion that the commission may make him hire them but they can't make him keep them.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. Does he get to finish the course?

He should, naturally........

PLUS, the money should be reimbursed.....

This sounds like a set-up to me.....I do hope I'm wrong, though...

:grr:

[reyd reid reed]

15. Oh, geeeeeze....

Talk about adding insult to injury...

:hug:

[Whoa_Nelly]

20. Please check out this MA site

http://www.massbar.org/lawhelp/legal_info/index.php?sw=3123&full_id=238

Also, under MA law, he has a right to a copy of his personnel records

Also, this from the MA AG:
(seems to fit re: retaliation...someone slandered him, and the chief used it to fire/ask for resignation...?)
Retaliation

Massachusetts law prohibits employers from taking adverse employment action against an employee, such as those described above, because an employee has complained about an employer's violation of these laws or because an employee has assisted in an investigation or proceeding under these laws by, for example, testifying, or filing an affidavit.
http://www.ago.state.ma.us/sp.cfm?pageid=1655

on edit:
Want to add http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/employ.html

[Dark]

17. That is BS. If he wasn't checking it while he was on the clock,

then the station has no right to fire him. What a person does on their own time is their own business.

[Kajsa]

18. Oh, Gargoyle, this is horrible!

Last night 60 Minutes had a story on this-

random firings for NUNYA business- after work things that the employers
feel they have a "right" to stick their nose into!!

Good God- I'm so damn sorry for you and especially your son!

I wish, REALLY WISH, there was something that could be done about this.
It's really gotten out of hand!

:nuke:

[sendero]

19. I'm sure...

... that this is not the "end of his career".

And I'm sympathetic but only to a point.

Folks, if you are going to go online and say things you have two choices:

1) Make damn sure you are really anonymous or
2) Only say things you would say to to ANYBODY, because ANYBODY can find and read it.

I hope everything works out.

[bloom]

23. I agree that people should think of it

as publicly announcing what they think and do.

Same as if they published the same in a newspaper.

If someone wrote letters to the editor slamming their boss or company - it probably wouldn't go over very well.

Whether people should be able to get away with that or not - I guess is debatable.

It sounds like some people think of MySpace as a private party - when it's not.

[Zookeeper]

29. I agree, bloom.

When one of my kids started a MySpace page, I let her know that her dad and I would be reading it. She started to object, but I pointed out that she is posting on a public forum (I'm part of the "public"), plus I am obligated to make sure she is using the 'Net safely.

I started my own page, as well. But, I always consider exactly how much info I want to "share," and I never post pics of my kids or home.

[IsIt1984Yet]

31. Yes, I strongly agree with "never post pics of my kids or home".

In fact, I don't post pictures of anyone anywhere unless they are an adult who gives me permission and they are fully aware that the picture is there. In addition, I expect the same respect of privacy from others.

[WindRavenX]

21. I am so sorry

Fuck people who snoop around on what I do OFF THE CLOCK.

Fuck that noise.

[sendero]

30. Don't try to get a job ...

... as a policeman or a firefighter. Both routinely have contract clauses that limit their free speech rights. I've read of at least twice policemen getting fired for comments made about the department to the press.

I feel sorry for this guy, but the fact is if he identified himself and posted derogatory comments about his department or their management on a public web site - well he wrote his own pink slip.

[WindRavenX]

32. why firefighters or cops?

Limit of free speech? Weird :shrug:

[rockymountaindem]

22. I don't know why anybody has a MySpace page

With stuff like this happening all the time, I'm not going to put anything out there I don't have to.

[sendero]

24. My kids had one for a time..

... but without me even telling them they understood that YOU CANNOT IDENTIFY YOURSELF on those things at all.

No real names, no addresses, no phone numbers, no domains whose registrations can be checked.

They did it for a different reason (adult predators) but the concept is important. Web pages are public, anyone can read them and lots of folks Google their way to all kinds of info that folks didn't think was public.

[iconoclastic cat]

27. Plenty of employers are adult predators of a different stripe.

The sociopathic type, that is.

[RetroLounge]

33. I have one.

I only post poetry.

Maybe I'll get fired for writing bad poetry?

:rofl:

RL

[rockymountaindem]

34. Maybe you'll be fired for writing bad poetry...

about your boss! Look out!

[judaspriestess]

25. Just like them checking your credit now

this is getting very scary.

[iconoclastic cat]

26. Sorry that happened, but here is a lesson, people:

Do not ever, ever, ever, post under your own identity. A girl where I work just had the same thing happen to her--she wasn't fired, however, just mortified. While nobody where I work was even thinking about it after the initial humor, she's still embarrassed as hell.

Aliases, people! Be security conscious!

[L A Woman]

28. it's like the 60 Minutes episode this week...

apparently very few of us have any legal recourse under such circumstances. People are being fired for smoking (at HOME, not at work!) and for having certain bumper stickers on their car. One guy was fired for drinking a Coors (he worked for Anheuser Busch).

Scarrrry.

Is there a way he can claim it was all made up??? I don't see how they can prove they were his comments if he denies it.