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By Anjeanette Damon (contact) 
Friday, Aug. 5, 2011 | 10:26 a.m.
Sun Coverage
The story is almost old hat these days.
Despite constant warnings to be careful what you post on Facebook, a disgruntled employee who is irritated at a boss, a customer or a co-worker, takes to the social networking site to vent some spleen — and ends up getting disciplined or even fired.
It’s a fate that has befallen a North Carolina waitress at a pizza restaurant, a Philadelphia Eagles stadium worker and a group of airline workers in recent months.
But what if it’s the boss who decides to use Facebook to complain about an employee?
That scenario is playing out within the state’s unemployment benefits anti-fraud unit after the agency’s manager used his personal Facebook page to complain about an unidentified employee he thinks uses too much sick time.
“Why is it that for some people FMLA stands for Family Medical Leave Act and for others, it should stand for Fire My Lazy Ass?” unit manager Steven Zuelke wrote on his Facebook page last month, hours after one of his employees left work early because she said she was sick.
Zuelke engaged in a lengthy back and forth with a group of his Facebook friends — including another state staffer who works in the same division — in which he initially mocks his employee and then rants about how difficult it is for the state bureaucracy to deal with problem workers.
He never identifies the employee, but the rant is specific enough that one of the two employees Zuelke has had on FMLA status thinks Zuelke was talking about her.
“I had to read it a few times because I was shocked and confused,” said Sherry Truell, a claims examiner who works in Zuelke’s unit and has used FMLA time extensively this year. “I was being referred to as lazy, an anchor, that other people have to do my work, stuff that related to my personal business.
“I was extremely embarrassed. My co-workers can see this information.”
Truell said she used FMLA heavily last month because of what she described as a stress-related medical condition and because her son needed surgery. She added she usually takes two or three days off a month.
Describing the Facebook rant as bullying behavior, Truell has sought the help of her union representative to address the issue and is considering filing a grievance.
“He’s discussing his employees, his work environment, he has friended multiple other employees in the same office. There are so many problems with this,” said Priscilla Maloney, labor representative for Truell’s AFSCME local.
Zuelke was reticent to talk about his Facebook postings, referring a reporter to his department’s public information officer. But he did note he did not post during working hours or using a state computer.
“What you’re asking me to do is comment on something written as a private individual and written on my own personal time as well,” he said.
He noted his division has a number of employees who use FMLA, “some for very nebulous reasons.”
(After learning that a reporter had been provided copies of his Facebook postings, Zuelke once again took to the social networking site with rambling, vaguely threatening quotations from Shakespeare and other poets on the themes of betrayal, retribution and rooting out the disloyal. He changed his Facebook profile picture to a painting of Benedict Arnold.)
Nevada doesn’t have a specific written policy on Facebook use.
But Teresa Thienhaus, director of personnel, said all managers and supervisors undergo extensive training on how to deal with personnel issues.
“These courses emphasize that it is only appropriate to speak about personnel-related matters in a private setting,” Thienhaus said in a statement.
Mae Worthy, spokeswoman for the Employment, Training and Rehabilitation Department, said the agency would investigate any disclosure of confidential information.
But what of First Amendment protections? Is an employee, manager or not, allowed to rant in a public forum such as Facebook?
Allen Lichtenstein, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said public employees are generally protected when speaking as a citizen about “matters of public concern,” such as whether the state’s bureaucracy complicates dealing with problem employees.
But when the discussion turns more specific, or is directly related to internal matters, any employee could be subject to discipline, including termination, he said.
“Making fun of a particular individual and suggesting that she’s falsifying a medical condition is not a matter of public interest,” Lichtenstein said. “He would’ve been better off just dealing with the issue and leaving personalities out of it.
“People should be careful because in the private sector, as well as the public sector those things could be problematic,” he added.
But what of First Amendment protections? Is an employee, manager or not, allowed to rant in a public forum such as Facebook?
Uh, yes. But that doesn't mean you aren't going to lose your job for it.
Regardless of the other issue involved, an employee who "usually takes two or three days off a month" needs to be fired.
I completely agree with Al_Rogers. This person would have already been fired if she worked in the private sector. And rightly so. Only in a government cheese job could an employee get away with this.
Not supposed to go to this site at work, talking about lazy employee , to the people who goes to this site...look at the MIRROR first. or why don't we challege the PRESS people of Nevada to expose things like this in the open and those who DONOT really work their hours to be fired , they are worse than parasites, calling all Dept. HEAD PLS, check if your people are really at work ! I.G./ A. G. pls. set some examples and expose the result of your investigations to the so called FMLA, if you get paid 8 hrs. you should be at work for 8 hrs.
The lesson to be learned here is simply this: if you're going to put someone on your "friends list" on Facebook then they should probably be a friend. I treat Facebook like a gathering at my house. No one gets invited that I don't trust or actually know and like and I wouldn't say anything that I know might leave the room. My privacy settings are set up so that only someone on my friends list can see my stuff. Seems pretty simple and logical doesn't it?
Americans have become exhibitionists and everyone wants to pretend as though they're some kind of celebrity. Only a moron would make disparaging remarks about his employees in front of other employees in such a public fashion. This article isn't about the employee and her behavior, it's about a supervisor who fraternizes with other employees in his off hours and then stupidly, and publicly, makes light of another employee. Free speech has nothing to do with being an idiot.
Many times I've been criticized by other commenters here because I don't use my real name. The Sun limits my visibility and my comments expire because I don't share my personal information with them. The fact is you can have an opinion and make it known while still protecting your privacy. It's called Democracy. We go into a booth and pull the curtain shut and cast a vote for public officials without them ever knowing who actually voted for them. Privacy should be a matter of common sense. The Facebooking, the tweets, the Myspace rants, etc. are getting a lot of people in trouble because they don't think first about who they're sharing their personal information and private views with. Even if you're amongst friends it's never been wise to vomit out everything that pops into your head and yet people seem to think it's perfectly fine to do it over the internet.
Americans need to wake up to reality and stop doing stupid things that they "feel sorry" about afterward.
This person that takes 2-3 days off per month is very disrepectful to her co-workers that have to pick up the slack for her while she is tkaing time off when not really sick. Stressed? Then you apparently are not in the right job and you should quit and get a job that won't stress you out. I don't htink it is appropriate for the boss to be talking about his staff named or not named on facebook.
Good comment sporty.
I applaud the boss for making light of the abuse by an unnamed individual.
Who in the hell is not stressed these days?
Doesn't mean the taxpayers should support her Oprah-therapy.
I didn't think you could take a few days at a time under FMLA. I thought it had to be at least 2 weeks at a time. And it HAD to be YOUR vacation time first, and THEN the FMLA requirements kick in.
Needless to say - 2-3 days a month is not too excessive but enough to put her co-workers at a disadvantage AND take away time that they may want to take off. When I worked for the St of NV, I was at the building on Washington and a lot of State offices are there. You would not believe the things I would hear when I was on break!! Lots of workers just refused to do their jobs, but because they were in the union, the State could not do anything about them so they kept their jobs. Coming from the pricate sector, I was appalled 'cause their in that sector - you did not try to pull the kind of crap some of these employees pulled. You were out the door.
Wait just a second.. Govt employees can take free vacation days for stress??? That is ridiculous! Life is stressful, grow up and deal with it!
That being said, a manager should keep employee drama like this private.
I don't use facebook, and frankly neither should you.
Employees on FMLA are very protected by this Federal law. And it has nothing to do with being a government worker. This same thing also happens in the private sector, especially in big corporations. You may not be aware of it because managers can be fired very quickly for crossing someone of FMLA. Bottom line, you better keep you mouth shut when it comes to FMLA.
1) @ Det_Munch state employees can't collectively bargain, and there are no state unions that actually do anything. I doubt they "refused to work".
2) this lady claiming a stress related medical condition 2-3 times per month is code for "i hate my job and want to burn as much time as i can." she is screwing her co-workers, and i'll bet the supervisors could care less. its a shame she is milking it.
3) supervisors do get personnel training because they are not promoted based on any type of competency, but how much butt they kiss to the management. thus, they need the training and most are incompetent to do anything about problematic employees like Sherry.
4) if they were all at a party and he made the same comments, would he get in trouble? No.
5) why didn't she stick up for herself and post on facebook?
'didn't think you could take a few days at a time under FMLA. I thought it had to be at least 2 weeks at a time. And it HAD to be YOUR vacation time first, and THEN the FMLA requirements kick in'
FMLA allows for intermittent time off. As an example; a pregnant woman with a difficult pregnancy. All time taken intermitently is accumulated towards the allowed 12 weeks. As for taking vacation first, that should be expected and actually benefits the employee as there is no pay for FMLA.
And nothing says the woman doesn't have something like shingles which can be stress related and very painful.
On the other side of the debate. If the woman is playing the system and not using the full 12 weeks in a 12 month period, then I would agree she should be fired.
But the story is about the supervisor making comments on Facebook and Sporty is right.
If the doctor and the job approved it, what's everybody bitching about?
HopeAnd, Excellent comments.
My clients would laugh themselves unconscious if I told them I was stressed and couldn't do the work they assigned me. After they picked themselves up off the floor they would call someone else and I would lose the $$$$. Please.
This is what is wrong with Government workers. Coddled.
The person that stated he worked for the state at the washington office heard a lot of stories and the state could not do anything because of the union. Well dude or gal you would know that STATE employess are not allowed to have a union. They cannot bargain for pay nor anything. They do have an association but there is no power,only to question things. They cannot file any papers for an employee they can advise employee of what the state law but NRS 284 which covers all state employee's for all matters. They can help them fill out the papers cannot file the papers like a union can because there is a state law forbids state employees only not to engage in union bargaiing powers. They can join a union but that it is non bidding,therefore the employee has wasted money for no reason.
"Americans have become exhibitionists and everyone wants to pretend as though they're some kind of celebrity. Only a moron would make disparaging remarks about his employees in front of other employees in such a public fashion."
------------
There it is..
Government employees have a certain amount of days they can take off. Many private sector companies offer the same benefits for professionals.
Managers make mistakes and sometimes they act inappropriately, in the public and private sector, but government managers are more protected. There are many managers in government employment who think they are entitled to do very little for a big paycheck. Many of them get promoted because they are friends of other managers and their poor performance is ignored. There are too many managers and not enough workers in government. The rest of this story is probably that the worker had to take stress leave because of a bullying manager.
THIS is exactly why the tea party tries so very hard to cut back government so that private industry can run things correctly, efficiently, and with far less cost.
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24-36 days off a year is acceptable in a government position? She wouldn't get past the 90 day probation period where I work, and if she actually pulled that after the period ended, it'd be documented after her 5th absence, and she'd be long gone before her 10th.
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Taxpayer money is funding this women, who essentially is no better then the welfare frauds out there, the firefighters who do the same thing as she does, and the single mothers of 6 who spawn babies so they don't have to work for a living.
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Enough. Liberals want a raised debt ceiling? Here's the compromise. Put in realistic expectations for government employees, including benefits, give the managers the teeth to get rid of the deadwood, and let's actually hire competent people to serve us.
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She should be ashamed of herself.
If the manager and public would LISTEN TO THE GOVERNOR--cut the amount of sick leave awarded to employees--it adds up just like vacation annual leave. Now that the State has gone to a health insurance with a "process" that discourages running to doctors for every hang nail and paper cut, some employees may scale back on excessive use of sick leave even for dependents. The employees now get to pay for each doctor visit, except preventive care.
Perhaps the manager needs to treat employees as INDIVIDUALS. This particular worker may be experiencing burn out and/or serious personal problems. Then again, maybe not. Counsel the employee about the need to rely on her being there when needed, not when convenient for her.
"She added she usually takes two or three days off a month."
what a bum.
As long as the employee has a doctor's medical certificate that justifys her being away from the office then you cannot fire her. Whether she is gov't or private industry.
All you healthy able-bodied people who thinks she should be fired could be in the same position in a blink of an eye. And wouldn't you want someone to understand your situation as well.
The statement about the others having to take up the slack. Well, that is what being a team is all about. When someone is down you help them out. I am sure this isn't going to be a permanent situation for her. She is just going through a time of her life trying to deal with a family situation.
just another example of lazy, entitled, union public employees. More abuse of sick time and the family leave act (where have we seen this recently....hmmm.)Ever notice when governments lay off large numbers of public employees no one really notices?
Look I'm crippled with MS meaning I can't walk, but I went from being a 20 year printing pressman to a now 7 year 911 dispatcher which frankly I can't stand with a passion thanks to the callers being 90% illegal aliens and or people described in the offenders Facebook rant, People who need and are too used to having their hands held and the nanny state solve all their problems for them. .
However I do it and when coupled with web programming and graphic design I do from my printing connections I make ends meet pretty well for a cripple.
I personally have little compassion for people with 'mental issues' because frankly every human being I KNOW and that's thousands of hard working ones all have these MENTAL ISSUES and just work harder to work through them. People have been doing this for thousands of years.
If I can freaking make it to work in a damnnnn wheelchair why can't someone with a toe jamb infection or a hangover be there too every day? I haven't missed a shift in the entire time I've been there working weekend overnights for 7 freaking years. Think I enjoy it? NO, but I was brought up in a family where we paid our freight and I'm not starting any new traditions.
That's how I feel and I could easily go collect disability and sit around on a check for 1700 a month just based on my printing employment making over 70 thousand per year. Now I make half that but it's better than being a nanny state slave. I'd rather be dead frankly.
Get to work or move aside and let someone who will DO it.
FWIW...
1. The State of Nevada was overruled at the US Supreme Court on Nevada's interpretation of the FMLA. It was a significant loss. I cannot speak to this specific example (which sounds valid to me) but it makes me wonder if the State is overapplying at other times because of the SCOTUS ruling.
2. We supervisors with the State are trained to know better and act better. Some of us supervisors tend to type with our jerking knees and not our brains, too.
3. Freedom of Speech does not absolve a person for the responsibility of speaking. If I stand outside my agency *after hours* with a sign saying "John Smith who works in this building Sucks", you folks would reasonably expect my boss to come down on me like a ton of bricks. I agree that he should. And he would.
4. Along those lines, if Mr. Zuelke had said these things in a bar or a restaurant, and his employee were there and overheard him, it's equally reasonable to assume Mr. Zuelke would be more careful repeating those things in public ever again. Why he does not expect the same reaction from his employee (and employer) from his public Facebook post is baffling.
5. Lastly, I know many of you hate us state employees. After all, we're easy targets who can't fight back without risking our jobs. I can only repeat what others have said: 90+% of us work hard and do the very best we can. There is nothing I can say or do to change the minds of some here, but we'll continue to take your abuse and do our jobs in the most professional and courteous manner we can muster at the time.
Thank you.
Now why would this guy take to the airwaves to beat up this employee for an issue she was having for a month? My guess is this is one side of the story. Only hers and she's going to bat her eyes and play innocent. Poor little me, bullied by my big bad boss for being stressed. Looks like he gave her plenty of room to keep taking her extra 2-3 days off a month and scream retaliation if called on it. People wonder why government is broken?
I have to agree with Thomas Delahunty. If this employee was in the private sector that person would have been let go a long time ago. I just briefly worked for the school district after working in the private sector for over 30 years....AND OH. MY. GOSH!! What an eye opener. A couple of employees were probably absent two days a week on a weekly basis. Unbelievable! And God for bid if they were counseled...right away one of them would cry to the union. It's no wonder some government agencies are freaking screw up.
Terrie Ward said: "As long as the employee has a doctor's medical certificate that justifys her being away from the office then you cannot fire her. Whether she is gov't or private industry."
Please, please do not rely on this advice. As a member of the bar in 3 states including Nevada I can assure you that management can fire employees for poor attendance even if they are genuinely sick. That is why you might consider disability insurance. Also FMLA has strict rules - you can't just take off whenever you like.
While this may seem harsh you have to see it from management's POV. The employee must be there to do the job. You can ask for accommodations under Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) but when it comes right down to it unless you have a fireproof contract the company can fire you if you are unable to do your job. I have never known a company that would put up with an employee who was absent 3 days every month unless he was the owner's son.
In the case of Ms Truell, if the facts are as stated, her coworkers were probably only too well aware of her attendance record. They do not need to read it on Facebook.
I suggest that Mr Zuelke contact Ms Thienhaus and ask for guidance on progressive discipline to correct the problem. After all that is what she is paid for.
Managers, even managers working for the state, should not be intimidated - they can get rid of employees who refuse to correct their problems. But it does take work - documenting all corrective steps taken with the employee.
To reduce this problem to absurdity, what would the state do if every employee called in sick for 3 months? They certainly wouldn't hire a whole new workforce - think about it.
The helping hand you need with problem employees is often on the end of your own arm.
In state government, they hang the title of "manager" on any friend or buddy, no merit required. No formal training is given or required. That is why this stupid "manager" did this.
Perhaps the manager should have the stress claim! Without support or backing from his superiors there is little he can do with a problem employee.
As for contacting the HR dept for advice I believe he said it took 3+ yrs to get rid of another problem employee. Where was the HR support? They are too afraid to do the job the NRS lets them, if they take the time to follow the rules the problems could be taken care of. Instead they are too afraid of "negative publicity".
2-3 sick days a month? Stress?
Chunky says:
Also known as the "Friday Monday Leave Act", the program is abused way too often. Too bad there's not an easy way for a company and it's workers to weed out the slackers.
That's what Chunky thinks!
Don't forget your government workers are paying taxes just like everyone else. The workers and the managers have the same sick leave and vacation leave, in fact, in some cases the managers may have more accrued leave available if they have more seniority.
The general public has no idea what is is like to work for the government. Most state workers earn twice the pay they actually receive because it is non-stop, hard work. Caseloads and responsibilites have doubled since 2000 (Sun-how about a story on that?) and one worker now has to do the work of two people.
Some lazy managers refuse to do their job and deal with the inept workers who get away with shoving their work on their co-workers because they are lazy bums. It is the managers who need to be held accountable. You would be shocked at the entitled attitude many of them have-spending 2 out of 5 days a week at "work" socializing, playing mind-games and dividing the office into their little mean girl and mean boy cliques.
Let's talk about the managers rather than the union workers for a change. They are not performing, not earning their pay, yet they receive the same benefits that the workers have fought for with the union, and they don't even have to pay union dues. The fat is the top 80%, that is what needs to be cut.
You will all realize how badly we need our educated, hightly trained and skilled, responsible government workers when we finally disolve into a 3rd world country and your new non-unionized worker taking your personal financial information and/or keeping children and families safe, is the same person asking if you want fries with that at night.
The unions are there for a reason, wake up people!