Emergency Dispatcher Fired For Facebook Drug Joke

kaptink writes "Dana Kuchler, a 21-year veteran of the West Allis Dispatch Department, was fired from her job for making jokes on her Facebook page about taking drugs. She appealed to an arbitrator, claiming the Facebook post was a joke, pointing out she had written 'ha' in it, and noting that urine and hair samples tested negative for drugs. The arbitrator said she should be entitled to go back to work after a 30-day suspension, but the City of West Allis complained that was not appropriate. Is posting bad jokes on Facebook a justifiable reason to give someone the boot?"

Comments

Re:Sounds like the excuse....

[ConfusedVorlon]

she had already been taken through 4 of the mandatory 5 steps to dismissal

"Kuchler was already on thin ice with the city, having gone through four of the five disciplinary steps required by the collective bargaining agreement with the local clerical union: a verbal warning, written warning, one-day-suspension, and three-day-suspension."
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2010/05/police_dispatcher_fired_for_st.php

so it seems that for whatever reason, her bosses didn't think much of her...

So the arbiter ruled - end of problem

[flyingfsck]

This is a non issue. The arbiter ruled. The person has to go back to work after 30 days.

Sanity prevailed.

Nothing to see here, move along.

Re:no

[pryoplasm]

Soldiers can't be charged with conduct unbecoming for bad behavior unless they are in uniform, so why should it be different?

Actually, they can under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It applies to all US service members regardless of location, in and out of uniform.

I don't see why something similar wouldn't apply to other nations militiaries or other government organizations...

Re:no

[Desert_Scarecrow]

"Soldiers can't be charged with conduct unbecoming for bad behavior unless they are in uniform, so why should it be different?"

Absolutely, 100% wrong. They can. The fact that the individual works for a public service and not a private corporation is actually worse for their case, not better for it.

Re:Sounds unreasonable

[icebrain]

I've never worked on the dispatch side of things, but there is a huge difference between a good dispatcher and a bad one. The good ones are true multitaskers; they not only know what goes on during a fire/EMS call, but can tell what's happening just by the sound of someone's voice, and can manage to keep track of five or six separate incidents at one time. Many of them are former fire/EMS/law enforcement who either retired or had to quit for medical reasons.

Most dispatchers pull 12-hour shifts, often overnight. It's a stressful job where you're sitting at a desk all day trying to help coordinate a response to life-threatening situations solely by radio. I'd imagine it's a little like air traffic control, actually.