You don't find a lot of consensus in comment sections here, so the reader response to a story Monday about a Michigan teacher's aide who was suspended after refusing to allow administrators access to her Facebook page was notable.
Kimberly Hester, who last year was employed by Less Cass Intermediate School District at Frank Squires Elementary School in Cassopolis, says she was called into her superintendent's office after a parent complained about a photo on her Facebook page that showed a pair of pants around a coworker's ankles. Hester repeatedly denied the district superintendent's request for her password and was placed on leave. Hester is pursuing a legal case against the district, and both sides enter arbitration next month.
The general agreement among readers was: Be careful what you post on Facebook, but don't ever consent to an employer's request for access to your account.
Cory C wrote:
"Sorry boss, but I'm not giving you my facebook password so that you can e-stalk me you creeper. What's next, would you like to search my underwear drawer at home too for anything racy?"
If a boss asks you for your password, you've got to be witty enough to turn it around and make them sound perverted. Accuse a boss of sexual harassment in that form and see how far they pursue a case.
That being said, it is YOUR facebook, and you have to be conscious of who is reading it. Ya know that moment of "Maybe I shouldn't do this?" right before you hit post? Think about it next time, and save it for fetlife. Or just have 2 accounts, one professional and one personal. You wouldn't be the first.
LansingWatcher weighed in with this:
No person or organization, employer or otherwise should EVER have any expectation or right to access a person's Facebook account. It's a PRIVATE account. If they can access FB, what's next? I guess they might as well demand access to all email, and perhaps phone records. If a crime was committed, call the police. Otherwise, shut up and leave the employee alone. The FB account has nothing to do with work. Pants around the ankles??? Big friggin' deal.
formercoach1202 offered this:
My personal opinion is that no employer should ever ask permission to seek any password that is not related to an employment such as computer login access. An individual's Facebook page is in no way, shape or form something that an employer should be allowed access to nor should they seek access to.
If the facebook page is for a school organization, then the administration has a right to the password, but when it is a persons personal account with their personal password, then no the employer should not ask for the password.
With all of that said, this should be a reminder to people about what they post on FB and who they friend on FB.
I personally tend to be very careful about what I post on FB for the simple reason that I don't want everyone to know everything about me and I don't want some overzealous employer to pry for information about me through FB. If I have something to say to someone I will do it by email, txt or phone, not via FB.
mliveparent suggests the story is a good reminder to be careful who you friend:
It sounds like the ISD would like to determine if any postings were done during working hours and from a school computer. Even though the actual picture was posted on her own time from her own computer. It goes to show to limit who are your friends on social media. If I was in education, the last people I would have are parents (the assumption from the article is it is a parent of a student from the school). Any communications regarding schools\education\students should go through school only sites. I know I am not friends on facebook with any of my co-workers or clients. Those relationships are done through other sites.
Hester joins a number of Facebook users who in recent months have taken legal action after being asked for passwords by current or prospective employers, then punished or denied jobs when they refused.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
No comments:
Post a Comment