Closing Case Study One It\'s a story that\'s been told before. Twenty Five year
ID: 434293 • Letter: C
Question
Closing Case Study One It's a story that's been told before. Twenty Five year old Stacy Synder was in her last semester of teacher in training at Millersville University School of Education. On her MySpace Page, she posted a photo of herself at a party with a pirate hat and a cup in her hand. The caption read, "Drunken Pirate". Her school decided that the photo promoted drinking to her underage students at Conestoga Valley High School and denied her teaching degree. She sued citing her first amendment right and a federal she was a public employee and therefore her public speech (ie "drunken pirate") was not protected. district court judge dismissed her case because op Education InstitaeExplanation / Answer
Some employers do use social media for background verification of potential employees. Employees do have the option of using privacy setting in their social media profile to limit the access of information on their profile. In the case of Stacy Snyder, she was working for a critical role of a teacher, who serves as a source of inspiration for the students. When she uploaded her drinking pirate photo, she could have used the privacy filter to limit the access of viewing. This way, her personal life could have been personal. However, her drinking pirate pic was public and hence the school authorities considered it a bad example for the students and she was denied the teaching degree.
The company can use the medium of social media to conduct background check of the potential employee. It is a very powerful medium as the ease of accessibility and reach is quite wide. However there are certain legal limitations in this aspect. If the profile of a potential employee is private, then the employer can’t request login for social media profile investigation. Also it is considered a federal crime to do discrimination based on the profile details available on social media sites.
I usually put my privacy tab on, on most of my social media profiles. This helps in keeping my life private for my friends and family and avoids any kind of unlawful search and privacy violation.