Free speech on facebook

[devildogbb]

I posted a msg on Facebook and was suspended due to a violation of the firefighter code of ethics? Is this possible or am I protected by free speech.

 

[HighwayMan]

There's no free speech on Facebook.

What do firefighters have to do with you?

 

[Taxing Matters]

I posted a msg on Facebook and was suspended due to a violation of the firefighter code of ethics? Is this possible or am I protected by free speech.

I’m going to assume that you are a firefighter and that you were suspended from your firefighting position because of what you posted on Facebook. Some additional information is needed to figure out if any violation of your right to free speech is involved here. In what state do you work as a firefighter? Are you a member of a volunteer firefighting organization or are you employed by a city/county agency as a firefighter? What was the post that you made and what was the particular ethics violation that the organization said you violated?

It is important to understand that your right to free speech means that the government cannot prohibit most speech and that allowable government regulation of speech is quite limited. The key word here being government. The First Amendment does not prohibit private persons or organizations from prohibiting or regulating speech. Thus, if you work for a volunteer firefighting organization and those organizations are considered private organizations (i.e. not government organizations) in your state then the organization is not limited by the First Amendment and is free to restrict the speech of its members. Even if it is a government firefighting unit, the organization still has some rights to regulate speech of its members, though not to the extent that a private organization could. So the details of your situation do matter.

 

[devildogbb]

Free speech

I was suspended from my volunteer firefighter position for the following post "Per LVFD, RIP brotherhood, you are no longer an integral part of the fire service. This happened in South Carolina for the municipal city dept that I was at. It is a volunteer(pay per call) department.
They said I was in violation of the firefighter code of ethics which is part of some new policies that none of the membership was aware of or have yet to be given a copy of.
It states the following: Responibly use social networking, electronic communications, or other media technology opportunities in a manner that does not discredit, dishonor or embarrass my organization, the fire service and the public. I also understand that failure to resolve or report inappropriate use of this media equates to condoning this behavior.

 

[quincy]

I posted a msg on Facebook and was suspended due to a violation of the firefighter code of ethics? Is this possible or am I protected by free speech.

I was posting at the same time you were, I think.

Was the message you posted on Facebook concerning one of your firefighting calls/runs?

Firefighters, police officers and emergency medical service responders all have an ethical duty to protect the privacy of those who have called on them for help. Although information about an emergency is necessarily transmitted to responders (location, type of emergency) and general information is recorded and accessible by the public, personal information (names, ages, etc) tend to be guarded. Consent is required to disclose the information publicly.

Because these are ethical codes and not laws, you should be able to avoid any criminal action but you potentially could be sued. And, of course, you could be disciplined or fired if you violated your employer's policies.

I may have gone off on a tangent that has no bearing on the issue you came here to ask about. If so, clarification would be nice.

 

[devildogbb]

In addition to free speech

I was given an indefinite suspension and I don't understand why so long or can I see how they come to that decision since their is no disciplinary policy. It all seems to be from the hip leasership.

 

[quincy]

I was suspended from my volunteer firefighter position for the following post "Per LVFD, RIP brotherhood, you are no longer an integral part of the fire service. This happened in South Carolina for the municipal city dept that I was at. It is a volunteer(pay per call) department.
They said I was in violation of the firefighter code of ethics which is part of some new policies that none of the membership was aware of or have yet to be given a copy of.
It states the following: Responibly use social networking, electronic communications, or other media technology opportunities in a manner that does not discredit, dishonor or embarrass my organization, the fire service and the public. I also understand that failure to resolve or report inappropriate use of this media equates to condoning this behavior.

Few employers today want those in their employ to speak online about the workplace or coworkers or management unless it is done on a company sponsored site. Company websites are subject to employer controls and editing.

This is not a free speech issue but an employer/employee issue. Speech can be censored (and often should be).

 

[adjusterjack]

You don't have to understand it. Your employer's speech policy is anything he says it is at any given moment and you can be terminated for saying "boo" if he doesn't like it.

If you are on paid suspension, fine, stick it out.

But if you are unpaid suspension, that's the same as a termination or layoff and you should immediately file for unemployment compensation.

 

[quincy]

You don't have to understand it. Your employer's speech policy is anything he says it is at any given moment and you can be terminated for saying "boo" if he doesn't like it.

If you are on paid suspension, fine, stick it out.

But if you are unpaid suspension, that's the same as a termination or layoff and you should immediately file for unemployment compensation.

It is a volunteer position.

 

[HighwayMan]

It is a volunteer position.

For which he gets paid. Strangest definition of volunteer I know of.

 

[quincy]

For which he gets paid. Strangest definition of volunteer I know of.

No. Most of the volunteer firefighters in South Carolina do not get paid. It is at the discretion of a department whether to reimburse a volunteer for time spent responding to a call. The 240 hours of training is free.

The volunteers supplement the career, paid firefighting force in a community. Volunteer firefighters are part-time firefighters.

As a note: Recent statistics show that 65% of South Carolina's firefighters are volunteers.

 

[HighwayMan]

He said he gets paid per call which doesn't sound like what you describe.

But hey, what do I know?

 

[quincy]

He said he gets paid per call which doesn't sound like what you describe.

But hey, what do I know?

The pay-per-call would be discretionary pay. The departments that pay volunteers tend to provide a small amount of money just to cover the volunteers' costs of responding to a call.

A volunteer firefighter is not a fire department staff position. There ARE paid firefighters who staff the fire departments in most communities.

 

[justalayman]

For which he gets paid. Strangest definition of volunteer I know of.

That is the typical system used in my area also. As the op states, it’s called volunteer but they actually do get paid. In the op’s area and mine it is a per run fee.

I don’t know why they call it volunteer because it really isn’t. Ours has quite strict rules about being required to respond to calls as well, at least when available.

Have a laugh. This is from one of the sites that list salaries of various jobs;

The average volunteer firefighter salary in United States is $33,873 or an equivalent hourly rate of $16[/QUITE]

Here he ssa says volunteer fire fighters are employees;

https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0302101260

 

[quincy]

South Carolina is having a hard time recruiting volunteer firefighters, as I would assume are other states. It is hard to volunteer your time when you work a full time job, often in a city outside your own community.

There, too, is the risk. In 2015, of the firefighters who died while fighting fires, 52% of them were volunteer firefighters.

At any rate, what you post on Facebook can get you fired, even if you are a volunteer.


(and this thread has nothing to do with legal ethics or lawyer malpractice)