Nurse Claims Facebook Rant Was Protected

[The Straight Story]

Nurse Claims Facebook Rant Was Protected

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A nurse who pitched a fit on Facebook for having to work on her birthday sued the hospital that fired her and the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board.

Bernadet Guevarra sued Seton Medical Center, the appeals board and its chairman Robert Dresser in Federal Court, claiming First Amendment violations and breach of contract.

Guevarra worked as a staff nurse at Seton for 12 years.

"Plaintiff enjoyed taking her birthday off and would frequently take additional time off around her birthday," she says in the complaint. "On May 17, 2011, plaintiff placed a Facebook post on her personal page that said: 'Instead of spending my birthday celebrating, I will be working all night cleaning up feces. I hate loathe that effin heffer [sic]!!! Burn in hell you effed up spawn of Satan. I curse you and wish you a lifetime of pain and suffering. That is not enough, right now I would give anything to smack you down and pound you to unconsciousness. 'Tang ina mo!!!!! Thanks to the effin heifer who royally effed up my schedule, not only am I working Mother's Day, my birthday and my anniversary. And this Friday, I will be getting the smallest paycheck I had in 12 years due to the 17 percent pay cut we had to endure.'"

(Literally translated, "Tang ina mo" means "Your mother is a whore" in Tagalog.)

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/05/22/57869.htm

[Sherman A1]

1. It may or may not be protected speech,

that will be up to the court to decide. In any event I don't believe it was wise speech or wise to place the rant on FB or anywhere else online.

We all get ticked off about this or that in our lives, often that includes things at work. We are all human interacting with other humans, but publicly broadcasting such a statement in an online forum is simply asking for trouble in my opinion. Just because we can do something, doesn't always mean we should do it.

[etherealtruth]

5. That's it ... it was extremely unwise (protected or not)

Publicly airing one's employment grievances is not evidence of great wisdom ... especially, when the grievance has the potential to be viewed as petty.

Sorry, nursing shifts often "suck" (for lack of a better term) ... one is expected to work major holidays and minor holidays. One knows this going in (It doesn't make it easy, and a little "whining" about it is OK because you are asked to give up a lot). I am not sure working on one's birthday qualifies as a real down side to the job, though.

Nonetheless ... FB probably is not a good forum to vent your feelings about it.

[southernyankeebelle]

2. Man you don't piss off those Filipino women. She deserved to get fired.

You don't bite the hand that feeds you.

[Luminous Animal]

9. Her employer does't feed her. She feeds herself with money she earns

by working.

[Historic NY]

3. Ah, no....its not protected...

[msongs]

4. threat of criminal violence is not protected, nor is slander. good riddance to her nt

[gateley]

12. +1 -- She's pretty free with the threats.

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. What is with grownups who have to have their birthday off???

[Lex]

8. Exactly.

What the hell?

[Luminous Animal]

11. Philippine culture treats birthdays as a community event for young and old.

In small towns, a birthday would involve the entire community. In larger towns, often with a large group of family and friends.

[ScreamingMeemie]

13. One of my dearest friends is Filipino, and she is always at her desk

on her birthday. I've never heard her even mention it.

[Luminous Animal]

17. 35 years ago, when I worked at K-Mart, birthdays were a paid day off.

A person's birthday is ordinarily the only day of the year that truly makes it all about them.

I've had the privilege, for 30 years to be welcomed as part as a member of an extended Filipino family and community and have been invited to quite a few of birthday celebrations and have helped prep with them.

The decade birthdays are like a family reunion but the off years ones are important, too.

The experience inspired my husband and to create similar when it comes to birthdays with our own friends who have little ties with tradition and everyone steps up to the plate with amazing food, music, and revelry.

[ScreamingMeemie]

18. I'll have to ask her. Never ever heard of it. And there's a huge community down here.

I wonder if it's certain areas.

I have never had a day off on my birthday... but then, I stopped celebrating them at 19.

[Luminous Animal]

19. Ask her about the rice cakes and the laurels.

[ScreamingMeemie]

20. I will... but I somehow think I'll get a blank look.

Her parents moved them here when she was about 8 (25 years ago) and pretty much assimilated to the community I think.

[Ed Suspicious]

14. I take it off. It's just a little me time. No harm is done to anyone because of it.

But I wouldn't whine too much if I couldn't get it off.

[magical thyme]

7. free to rant doesn't equal freedom from consequences

It's ok to rant. It just makes more sense to do it anonymously on a forum where somebody would have to really have a grudge against your alter ego to make the effort to track you down, id you and figure out who to turn you in to.

[geomon666]

15. +1 n/t

[Lex]

10. Sure, she has a protected right to say it

but she doesn't get to say it free of consequences. Beside, the First Amendment applies to the Government controlling speech, not a nurse complaining about her boss.

[Generic Brad]

16. It was only protected if she had her privacy settings in place

Otherwise, what she posted is public. Had she complained privately like that in an e-mail or a text to a friend there would have been no ramifications because her employer would not know she had said that. But once she made a post that anyone could see, she waived her privacy.

And I realize that confining our negative comments to pages with privacy settings in place or in private e-mails is the electronic equivalent of placing a condom over our verbal ejaculations. Sometimes that stuff can still leak out.