Emergency Dispatcher Fired For Facebook Drug Joke

kaptink writes "Dana Kuchler, a 21-year veteran of the West Allis Dispatch Department, was fired from her job for making jokes on her Facebook page about taking drugs. She appealed to an arbitrator, claiming the Facebook post was a joke, pointing out she had written 'ha' in it, and noting that urine and hair samples tested negative for drugs. The arbitrator said she should be entitled to go back to work after a 30-day suspension, but the City of West Allis complained that was not appropriate. Is posting bad jokes on Facebook a justifiable reason to give someone the boot?"

Re:A Question of Privacy, or Stupidity?

[Jeian]

"social networking sites"

"private"

Yeah?

writing 'ha' in it is not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

She should have written 'roflcopter'.

Re:Sounds unreasonable

[phatcabbage]

No, nerd rage about spelling only sometimes.

Re:Sounds unreasonable

[Threni]

>Is your o, a, b and l keys broken?

Any reason you typed 'is' and not 'are' there? I assume those keys work on your keyboard, as you use them elsewhere, so why make that basic mistake while nit-picking someone else's comment?

actually it doesnt matter .....

[thephydes]

whether it is justifiable or not. Anyone who uses facebook and thinks that they are anonymous or safe (from someone dobbing them in) is an idiot.

Re:Sounds unreasonable

[BrokenHalo]

Being so stupid as to say dumb things on Facebook without realising her words could come back to bite her might be good grounds for not employing her in the first place.

Re:Sounds unreasonable

[RedWizzard]

English isn't my native language, so I'm probably missing something here, but what construct is "21 year veteran with mandatory raises is pry a nice chunk of change"?

English is my native language and I have no idea WTF he means by "pry".

Re:Sounds unreasonable

[siloko]

This also happens to be exactly why I keep my Facebook free of anyone from work.

I take this one step further by not having anything to do with Facebook. That's after I've made sure I have no friends of course. That'll learn 'em!

Re:Why people use their real names:

[somersault]

Someone has actually read the terms and conditions on Facebook? I am at the same time impressed, horrified and disgusted.

Re:Sounds unreasonable

[yotto]

Obama wrote that he was addicted to marijuana in his autobiography and wrote "ha" after it?

Re:Sounds unreasonable

[AikonMGB]

I think you'll find that [the Universe/saying dumb things] pretty much covers [everything/everyone]

Shutup woman, get on my horse.

Re:Sounds unreasonable

[noidentity]

21 year veteran with mandatory raises is pry a nice chunk of change. My friend's girlfriend worked in dispatch and with OT pulled in enough to get a loan for a 300k house and a 50k car with no cosigner. I don't know what she makes but it is pry ridiculous for the amount of skill involved.

You keep using that word [google.com]. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Re:no

[Murdoch5]

If you boot someone from a job for a post on a social networking site the shouldn't you have to take every post at true? So if I say I'm god on my facebook, I expect to have 1000's of holy men on there knees.

Re:no

[michaelhood]

As i was a soldier and have had this done for some drunken road sing collecting antics whilst serving in Germany in 1988

I read "drunken road sing collectin' antics" in a Brit soccer hooligan accent in my head several times, wondering what new English slang I'd come on and then I realized you meant road signs. =(

Re:STOP!

[Enigma23]

...and that makes Baby Jesus strangle a kitten.

Cool! Is that on Facebook too? WIll God fire Jesus over it?

Re:It all depends on what you mean ...

[VickiM]

Awesome, someone using the word "pry" correctly!

Re:Sounds unreasonable

[WillDraven]

I'm taking this way off topic but I've got karma to burn and I feel like bitching about this somewhere..

One of my girlfriends is in the habit of speaking in acronyms. Not just in text messages but vocally. By far the most annoying one is when she wants to say "By the way" she says "Bee Tee Dubs" which not only saves no syllables but also bastardizes the word for copying an audio recording into an alternative vocalization of the letter W.

I have repeatedly assured her that no sane person speaks in such a manner, and yet she insists "everybody does."

I fear for the future. :(

Re:Sounds unreasonable

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, for the most part, it is... Well, either that or lawful stupid, I suppose.