Employees who post on Facebook after work hours on their own computers consider their postings to be a part of their private lives immune from employer scrutiny. At the same time, employers view any offensive "public" statement by an employee touching upon their employment as fair game for discipline. In the public sector, the tension between public employees’ prerogatives and a public employer’s right to discipline has found a new battleground in social media postings. Two recent teacher disciplinary cases demonstrate the divergence in judicial viewpoints.
Students from a Harlem public school went on a field trip to Long Beach, Long Island, and one of the students tragically drowned. The next day, a fifth-grade teacher at P.S. 203 posted on her Facebook page the following: "After today, I am thinking the beach sounds like a wonderful idea for my 5th graders! I HATE THEIR GUTS! They are the devils [sic] spawn!" and "Yes, Iw[ou]ld not throw a life jacket in for a million!!"1
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