Workers' Facebook posts criticizing employer become heart of lawsuit
Two Brownsburg school district workers criticized their employer on social media. They were disciplined and now their comments are part of a free speech fight.
Tina Gracey and Brenda Farnsworth weren't shy about criticizing their employers on social media last spring, but they didn't expect their opinions to be at the center of a First Amendment fight.
When the Brownsburg Community School Corp. asked for a $96 million property tax hike last spring, the two cafeteria employees were among those who took to social media to voice their concerns. Gracey, in particular, has been vocal about what she said is irresponsible spending in the school district.
Last month, a human resources officer told Gracey and Farnsworth that messages they had posted to a public Facebook group were against the school district's social media policy, according to a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the women. They were given a written warning and told they could be fired if they posted similar messages in the future.
The complaint, filed Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, says the school district's actions squelched the women's free speech rights.
"There is no justification for the school corporation's attempts to silence its workers' speech on issues of public interest and concern," said Gavin Rose, staff attorney for the ACLU of Indiana, in a news release. "The First Amendment protects everyone's right to express their opinions, and online forums are a means of such expression."
Superintendent Jim Snapp said he wasn't aware of the lawsuit's filing, until an Indianapolis Star reporter contacted him. He said he could not comment on a pending lawsuit, but said school officials will review the allegations.
The lawsuit says the two women's comments on a Facebook group called Brownsburg Residents for Fiscal Responsibility criticized two referendums asking voters for tax increases that would have paid for construction of a new elementary school and renovation of a high school building. Voters rejected the referendums in May.
Brownsburg rejects school tax hike, 3 districts OK increases
In one message posted to the group's page in April, Gracey urged others to vote down the referendums and criticized school officials for a history of "frivolous spending." She expressed her disagreement with how school officials planned to spend funds the district would've received through the tax hike, saying the money could have paid for badly needed repairs in school buildings.
Both women still work for the school district.
Gracey, who has been with the district for five years, said she reached out to the ACLU of Indiana shortly after she received a written warning. She said school district employees shouldn't be at risk of losing their jobs for speaking out publicly against their employers.
"I don't want to lose my job because of this. I'm not asking for money," Gracey said. "I just want it to be made public that people are allowed to speak out against things like this."
Farnsworth was not immediately available for comment.
The lawsuit cites specific provisions from the school district's social media policy that Gracey and Farnsworth were accused of violating.
The policy requires employees to ensure that comments they make publicly about the school "meet the highest standards of professional discretion."
"Your online behavior should reflect the same standards of honesty, respect, and consideration that you use face-to-face, and be in accordance with the highest professional standards," the policy says.
It further states that if school officials believe that "an employee's activity on social networking site, blog, cell phone, or personal website may violate" the policies, officials "may request that the employee cease such activity."
Legal experts say lawsuits involving employees who accuse their employers of a free speech violation aren't uncommon and could prevail in court, depending on the speech in question.
Attorney David Urban, an expert on labor and employment law, expects to see more cases like this one. In an online article, he listed "speech by public employees" among the leading legal issues pertaining to the First Amendment to watch this year.
Urban, of Los Angeles, wrote that public employees disciplined by their employer can prevail in a First Amendment lawsuit if the speech was on a matter of "public concern" and it didn't pertain to their public duties. The ACLU of Indiana argues that the messages posted by Gracey and Farnsworth about school spending and tax hikes fit this description.
Even then, there's a test about whether the state's interest in restricting certain speech outweighs an individual's free speech rights.
Vanderbilt University law professor David L. Hudson Jr., a First Amendment expert, said cases often advance to the balancing test. At that point, a determination could be made on whether the speech caused disruption at work.
"In this instance, it sounds like it clearly passes the public concern prong," Hudson said. "And I'm not sure what interest the school district will advance (in restricting speech), but that will be an interesting case to monitor. We're seeing a lot of public employee cases where employees are being disciplined for their off-duty online comments."
According to the lawsuit, Gracey and Farnsworth posted their comments outside their work hours.
The two women are asking a federal judge to order the school district to erase the written warnings from their employment record. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Call Star reporter Kristine Guerra at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter: @kristine_guerra.
Can we talk about freedoms ‘without freaking out’?