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Vindictive Nurse Fired For Abusive Facebook Posting: Court Rules In Employers Favor

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Most employees are counseled time and again, that posting on Facebook injudiciously can have dangerous consequences, but most of them are so addicted to it that they don’t always care, as Barnett, a registered nurse, has learnt to her cost.

Wendy Barnett, working in the psychiatric unit at Defendant Aultman Hospital was a little bugged with, Lisa Summer, who became the Unit Director of the unit, sometime after Barnett joined. She felt, after a series of disciplinary actions against her by Ms. Summer, that she was prejudiced against her and was determined to fire her.

Later as issues cropped up, Ms. Summer clarified that as far she was concerned she had no personality quarrel with Barnett.

In January 2011, while Barnett was not at her workplace but vacationing at home, she received information that Ms. Summer had been fired. She was ecstatic. However, what Barnett was unaware of at that time was that the news was not correct and Ms. Summer was very much an employee at the hospital.

In her unconcealed but misplaced enthusiasm, she shot of an email through Facebook to at least 14 people, some of whom were former and current employees of the hospital.

The mail was an outpouring  of expletives and barbs, reflective of the angst and venom she bore towards her assumed to be former Director.

It read, Lisa got officially ax (sic) today! I am singing Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead The Wicked Witch, Ding Dong The Wicked Witch Is Dead. How poetic this comes the same day Sexton died, I would much rather get f…ked up the ass with hot pepper than endured what that soulless bitch put me through for 4 years…including turning me into the board…God does grind a fine mill when revenge is taken on by him…back when I was off due to drug accusations and praying, and praying, never would I have imagined she lose (sic) her job, marriage, and family, friends all at the same time! Karma Now I should tell you how I really feel! Love and fuzzies, Wendy”

Another employee at the Unit, Ms. Mary Heran, read the post and brought it to the notice of Ms. Summer, who then told the Vice-President of the Hospital, Ms. Wendy Gotschall about it.

When Ms. Gotschall asked Barnett about it she denied it outright, saying that she had not written it and it was probably the handiwork of people who had hacked into her account and that of late, she was unable to access her Facebook account. Moreover, she said that such words were not her’s and that she considered it offensive and defaming to her character, to even suggest that she wrote them.

Barnett was escorted to a computer and asked to log on to her Facebook account, but she was refused entry as she, aware of the seriousness of the situation, over and over again used an incorrect password.

Ms. Gotschall then told Barnett two things that she would surely have preferred not to hear, one that Ms. Summer was still on the job and that she was suspended with pay, pending an enquiry.

During her suspension, she sought information from the hospital whether she could take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). When she was summoned by an executive at the hospital, for a meeting, she said that she was taking FMLA leave and that she would send appropriate certification from her doctor.

When the meeting eventually did take place, Barnett was told that she was fired, not for sending the message but being deceitful about the email. Barnett took the matter to court, alleging that she had been fired for taking FMLA leave.

The trial court rejected Barnett’s claim saying that the hospital had decided to terminate her, even before her FMLA leave and the reason why she was given the sack was because she lied about the email.

Vindictive Nurse Fired For Abusive Facebook Posting: Court Rules In Employers Favor by
Authored by: Harrison Barnes