## Facts

- A union-represented Head Start preschool teacher, covered by a CBA requiring just cause for discharge, created a private Facebook group with three coworkers.
- Group members posted complaints about workplace experiences; posts were described as profane, race-based, and in some instances arguably threatening, and included disparagement of supervisors, coworkers, students, and parents.
- A manager learned of the posts after the husband of a group member saw them through a shared Facebook account.
- The manager shared the posts with individuals mentioned and with a parent policy committee whose approval was required for termination.
- After disclosure, multiple targeted individuals indicated reluctance or refusal to work with the teacher.
- When confronted, the teacher initially denied knowledge of the Facebook page, later asserted it was private and not intended to be shared, and offered to delete it if necessary.
- The employer had no social-media policy at the time, but as a Head Start program had obligations to maintain an appropriate environment and functional working relationships.
- The employer discharged the teacher (and also discharged a participating coworker); the teacher grieved her discharge under the CBA.

## Issues

1. Whether the teacher’s off-duty postings in a private Facebook group had a sufficient nexus to the workplace to permit discipline under the CBA.
2. If a workplace nexus existed, whether the employer had just cause to impose discharge rather than lesser discipline.

## Decision

- The arbitrator upheld the discharge.
- The arbitrator found a sufficient nexus between the off-duty Facebook activity and the workplace because the posts targeted workplace participants and affected working relationships.
- The arbitrator concluded the content and its effects seriously undermined the minimum conditions required for a productive employment relationship, constituting just cause for termination.
- The lack of a preexisting social-media policy did not bar discipline under a just-cause standard given the nature of the conduct and the program’s operational obligations.

## Legal Principles

- Off-duty misconduct may be disciplined under a CBA when there is a demonstrated nexus to the workplace, including where conduct undermines the minimum conditions for a productive employment relationship.
- Social-media speech characterized as targeted, offensive (including race-based), or arguably threatening may establish such a nexus when it involves coworkers, supervisors, parents, or program participants and results in workplace disruption.
- Just cause for discharge may be supported where the misconduct materially damages working relationships and continued employment is not reasonably workable.
- The absence of a specific social-media policy is not dispositive where general standards of conduct and the employer’s operational duties provide adequate grounds to assess the misconduct and its workplace impact.

## Conclusion

The arbitrator sustained the teacher’s discharge because her off-duty, private Facebook posts were substantially work-related, included offensive and arguably threatening statements, and produced concrete harm to workplace relationships sufficient to satisfy the nexus requirement and the CBA’s just-cause standard.


Vista Nuevas Head Start, 129 Lab. Arb. Rep. (BNA) 1519 (VanDagens 2011)