Letsrun Lawyers: Can a school suspend or fire a teacher for personal social media posts?

Depends on the state and the specific conditions of the employment (contract with individual, collectively bargained with teacher's union, any policies and procedures in place, etc).

In many state this would be completely fine. In CT it would be illegal as a matter of state law. In many states it would be prevented by contract.

1st amendment rights protect you from the government, not your employer. A teacher friend of mine was fired last year for similar circumstances. As a teacher, I read my contract and the section about social media specifically, the district can fire you if you post something they don’t like. Even off the clock you represent your employer.

Administrators at a public school would be very hesitant to make a move toward termination of a teacher unless the post was severe and there were other things going on.

I'm going in with the opinion that you are not revealing the whole story or even part of it.

If it is a public school, the teacher has a right to a hearing before being fired. If the teacher is a member of a union, the union should provide legal counsel to represent the teacher.

If it is a private school, the teacher is generally employed at will and can be fired for any reason or no reason at all.

Of course, any good employment lawyer would look into whether the termination was a pretext for discrimination on the basis of gender, race, age or national origin. If the post related to union activity, termination could violate the National Labor Relations Act.

Teachers are generally in short supply these days. It is highly unlikely that any district would fire a teacher for posting about supporting one side of a mainstream political issue. The teacher usually ends up crossing a line that has nothing to do with political speech. In my district, a second grade teacher got fired for being a regular caller to a local conservative political talk show. She got terminated when she made some very vulgar and racist comments on the show. She tried to claim her first amendment rights and lawyered up. But they caved pretty quick and agreed to resign in exchange for a few weeks of severance.

I'm not an attorney, but it seems there could be posts that would justify severe reactions. If my child showed me some bigoted or racist post I would ask for my child to transferd to another teacher's class.

It depends

But would be worth looking for a free or cheap consultation with a lawyer in your state, bring the contract.

Or depending, by contacting the union rep.

The first response hit the nail on the head.

In general, employment at will in most states means employers can fire employees for any reason except for an illegal reason, such as race, gender, etc. Some states have more restrictive laws than that, and some situations are not employment at will situations. If you are governed by a union or a contract, the employer's ability to fire you is limited by those considerations.

But as a general principle, employers can fire employees for any reason except for a few specific illegal reasons.

killermike wrote:

The first response hit the nail on the head.

In general, employment at will in most states means employers can fire employees for any reason except for an illegal reason, such as race, gender, etc. Some states have more restrictive laws than that, and some situations are not employment at will situations. If you are governed by a union or a contract, the employer's ability to fire you is limited by those considerations.

But as a general principle, employers can fire employees for any reason except for a few specific illegal reasons.

I think this is right

The same way the NFL could have immediately sanctioned Kaepernick the first time if it wanted to

Sounds like she made a statement that may be interpreted as a show of support of the current president. Now the lynch mobs are out to get her. Not unexpected in today's climate, but completely unacceptable from any objective viewpoint.

Double Standard wrote:

Sounds like she made a statement that may be interpreted as a show of support of the current president. Now the lynch mobs are out to get her. Not unexpected in today's climate, but completely unacceptable from any objective viewpoint.

I do know she supports the President and voted for him, but she has never expressed anything political while at school. She's very mild-mannered. If I'm not mistaken, the post in question was actually an infographic or meme - not even a full-fledged comment, per se. She's a single mother of two, and as her friend and coworker, I find this whole thing very troubling. She has not been informed how, but the post was obviously reported to administration, with several severe complaints. I just find it scary that in this day and age, employers have so much power, that you have to essentially censor yourself, even on your own personal social media profile, even if your activity in no way relates to your employer.

Hourunner wrote:

1st amendment rights protect you from the government, not your employer. A teacher friend of mine was fired last year for similar circumstances. As a teacher, I read my contract and the section about social media specifically, the district can fire you if you post something they don’t like. Even off the clock you represent your employer.

Are you daft? If a teacher is an a public school their employer IS the government. The first Amendment considerations do come into play.

Vvchvch wrote:

Hourunner wrote:

1st amendment rights protect you from the government, not your employer. A teacher friend of mine was fired last year for similar circumstances. As a teacher, I read my contract and the section about social media specifically, the district can fire you if you post something they don’t like. Even off the clock you represent your employer.

Are you daft? If a teacher is an a public school their employer IS the government. The first Amendment considerations do come into play.

As a teacher, the government is your employer, not a law enforcing body. Maybe schools are a bad example since they are funded by the government but no, first amendment rights do not protect you against anything other than jail time for speaking out against the government. Employers can place any restrictions on you they wish from the way you dress, to what you type in emails, to what you say at work or on social media. First amendment rights are not permission to say what you want, when you want without repercussions.

This is blatantly incorrect. Just as a starting point you might want to look up Pickering v. Board of Education, which appears as though it may be a relevant fact pattern precedent for the original poster.

Hourunner wrote:

As a teacher, the government is your employer, not a law enforcing body. Maybe schools are a bad example since they are funded by the government but no, first amendment rights do not protect you against anything other than jail time for speaking out against the government. Employers can place any restrictions on you they wish from the way you dress, to what you type in emails, to what you say at work or on social media. First amendment rights are not permission to say what you want, when you want without repercussions.

Plot twist-

OP is concerned about being doxed for some of their lrc trolling

I could see DiscoGary as a fat, lazy PE teacher that rolled a kickball out and then yelled at kids to go play while he smoked a fag in the bathroom.

In this situation, clearly the federal government should decide as they pay the teachers.

Hourunner wrote:

Vvchvch wrote:

Are you daft? If a teacher is an a public school their employer IS the government. The first Amendment considerations do come into play.

As a teacher, the government is your employer, not a law enforcing body. Maybe schools are a bad example since they are funded by the government but no, first amendment rights do not protect you against anything other than jail time for speaking out against the government. Employers can place any restrictions on you they wish from the way you dress, to what you type in emails, to what you say at work or on social media. First amendment rights are not permission to say what you want, when you want without repercussions.

Good gravy, you are very misinformed. The school is the government and firing for speaking out is an averse consequence that triggers first Amendment implications . First Amendment protects way more than jail time. SMH

Any other employer can fire you for any reason or no reason. Gov't employers can't. Please read the case law.

You are correct, here’s how Pickering applies:

If you are employed by a public school, the first amendment protects you in making statements as a private citizen about matters of public concern. A state employer contract that limited the comments you could make on social media (it matters whether you identify yourself as a teacher) would be unenforceable if you were just espousing personal political views. (Democrats are better than Republicans, for example)

But the standard for what constitutes political language is not particularly clear. I once represented a College that fired a professor for using profanity in class, and I thought we might lose because the profanity was spoken in the context of otherwise political speech. The federal appellate courts found that the words could be seperated so it held that the firing did not violate the first amendment.

Were the posts racist on top of being political? Are you sharing all of the information? Hate speech isn't free speech.