Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, your fired.

[Household6]

.......but I still treat everyone equally and they all receive the same quality of patient care.

I'm making an assumption here, but when someone publically displays a hatred towards a specific racial or religious "community", I don't see where that would be possible to reassure that same public they will be treated equally. KWIM?

 

[DrParasite]

She had taken pictures of herself in uniform, on company property (aircraft), in rather "risqué" poses (no nudity, but definitely suggestive). Airline management saw, did not like the image she was presenting, particularly since the pictures were taken in company uniform on company property, and fired her.

Apples and oranges. In your example, it was a private company, on company property, in uniform.

if she had posted risque photos of herself in her bedroom, could she still have been fired?

Before you answer that, in an at-will company, you can be fired for any reason (outside of discriminatory ones), or no reason at all. Much different than a public safety professional, who works for the government.

and Household6, public perception can be that every shaved headed guy who rides a motorcycle is a scum bag. or every Muslim or Arab is a terrorist. Does that mean we shouldn't hire (or rather, should fire) Muslims, Arabs or shaved headed people who ride motorcycles, based on the erroneous public perception?

a decent QA process or investigation of any complaints filed should reveal patterns of mistreatment, if any actually exist.

 

[AtlasFlyer]

Apples and oranges. In your example, it was a private company, on company property, in uniform.

if she had posted risque photos of herself in her bedroom, could she still have been fired?

Yes, particularly if she was in uniform in said bedroom, or even out of uniform if she made mention of her employer in any way/shape/form.

Before you answer that, in an at-will company, you can be fired for any reason (outside of discriminatory ones), or no reason at all. Much different than a public safety professional, who works for the government.

Yes, the specific firing mentioned in the OP was a government employee. But aren't there are plenty of non-government employed EMT/Paramedics out there too? In at-will states and not covered by union protection. (If you act in violation of company policy, say if the company has a policy of not identifying yourself as an employee of the company on social media, the union STILL can't help you keep your job. As a former union rep, many moons ago, I saw that firsthand.)

Bottom line: know your company policies, know your state's employment protections, but most of all, don't post stupid on the internet.

 

[mycrofft]

Supreme Court can uphold your right to free speech, but it has been found that anything injurious to the workplace (like my school's Jr High English teacher who posed for Playboy and got the centerfold...yes, really) can be grounds for termination.
If I saw local ambulance vollies in a photo toasting marshmallows over the coals at a fatal house fire, or mugging at a serious motor vehicle collision, I'd have second thoughts about letting those fools work on me.

I'm a firm believer in in-house "dark humor" to a point, but once it gets out, it influences standing and respect etc.

EDIT: MAybe this needs to be also about what we take and post about other people as well.

And as for the "I know university presidents who have tattoos and party photos on Facebook", I say "And how common is that?". I know bank loan managers with gauged ears and some tats and facial piercings, dammfine people (known them since they were born and their dad was a service buddy) but they will never get out of their east of East-LA location without getting some camouflage...which would now include plastic surgery. And no they don't have party videos on Youtube.

 

[Handsome Robb]

I follow some of these website and sometimes there is worthwhile information but most of the time it is just about the gore or shock factor and people pretending to know what they are talking about. I chuckle when someone posts a obvious STEMI EKG and you get 100 comments saying "it's a MI!". If even 1/4 of the people commenting are actually EMT/Medics I would be scared. The treatment plans people come up with for some of these trauma pics are absurd.

If I had a nickel for every time one of those responses ended with "rapid transport" I'd probably already have wheels, tires and the leveling kit for my truck!

 

[NYMedic828]

A lot are educational, but others claim to educate in order to post pictures of gruesome trauma. I mean, how much of that do we see, and how hard is trauma to treat compared to complex medical issues?

In a real medical setting, it can be much harder.

 

[Household6]

and Household6, public perception can be that every shaved headed guy who rides a motorcycle is a scum bag. or every Muslim or Arab is a terrorist. Does that mean we shouldn't hire (or rather, should fire) Muslims, Arabs or shaved headed people who ride motorcycles, based on the erroneous public perception?
.

Appearance is not the same as someone publically displaying a hatred towards a specific racial or religious "community"...

Pretty obvious to me that if a medical provider posts on social media that "all (insert racial/religion/gender/sexual orientation here) should die", then ironically that same medical provider has that same race/religion/gender/sexual orientation patient, and that patient dies while under their direct care, that can be a serious liability to the providers employer..

C'mon, outward appearance isn't the same as broadcasting an admission of obstinate bigotry in writing. And to not hire someone because of a possible public xenophobic fear is just as hateful...

 

[MackTheKnife]

Just remember that you represent your employer, first of all. Even on FB, etc. But if you post something and get terminated in a right to work state, there's nothing you can do.