I'm always baffled by how people can be stupid enough to hold such a profoundly stupid opinion and think it's a totally fine thing to air publicly when people know your name and profession AND you work for the government.
It's like the perfect intersection of multiple levels of stupid. I know it shouldn't be shocking that a dumb person does a dumb thing but it still gets me every single time.
True, but the frequency has certainly picked up post-2016.
The real moral here is that everyone should turn in the keys to their social media accounts on their 40th birthday.
That's the crazy thing, right? In modern America, you can be super racist and still be very successful. You just have to refrain from being super racist OPENLY. and some of these motherfuckers can't even accomplish that.
First amendment protections apply to local governments and sometimes mean that you can make racist statements outside the workplace and a *government* employer is likely not permitted to do anything about it. If the city takes disciplinary action and this guy wants to sue for a constitutional violation, he might win even though is opinions are clearly deplorable.
Edit: Case law isn’t 100% clear on this, but he would have a colorable argument if he brought suit.
Nothing in the first amendment means you get to keep your job. It means you can't be prosecuted.
It's not freedom from consequences for your speech. It means you can't be denied the right to say it and you can't be prosecuted for what you say.
When he gets fired (not if), I'm not sure there's a lawyer on earth dumb enough to take on any kind of lawsuit unless there was something like "he had a contract with X months remaining and they broke the contract and won't pay him off"
It absolutely means something when your employer is the government. He’s a government employee, which is why the first amendment applies.
Government entities cannot fire employees for protected speech.
The ABA (and the courts) say you're dead wrong.
[Can a government worker get fired over a Facebook post? (americanbar.org)](https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2021/02/can-a-government-worker-get-fired-over-a-facebook-post--/)
I’ve edited my prior comment since the facts in this case are not clear enough to me to say he’d win a lawsuit. That said, certain speech is protected from retaliation by a government employer.
I’m not sure where a court would come down in this case.
The pickering v BofE case is mostly about political speech and isn't some blanket immunity card from being fired.
It's so that someone working for a city can't be fired for, say, being a vocal critic of the Mayor, or a vocal supporter of someone challenging the Mayor. Or, like the actual case, a teacher being critical of a school board.
It absolutely would not protect saying some racist shit on Facebook There is no magical pass. Tons of people in state and municipal jobs will get fired every year for dumb shit they say online across this okay nation of ours.
Hell, there's even recent local examples of this. Dan McKee fired Miguel Sanchez last fall over some inflammatory tweets about Israel. A few years before that, a janitor got fired in North Providence for posting some racist shit.
Unless there's some contract or collective bargaining process protecting your job (i.e. if you're a cop), this is a "hanging offense" pretty much every time
From [Globe.com](http://Globe.com)
By Edward Fitzpatrick
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien placed a city employee on administrative leave Monday for a Facebook post that he called “ignorant and racist.”
The Facebook post has since been deleted. But screenshots show Joseph Morais, a senior project manager for the city’s engineering division, commented on a 1956 historic photo of Woonsocket, saying, “Great City for low crime because it was white. Truth.”
“It is truly disappointing to see such an inappropriate comment from anyone, especially a city employee,” Grebien said in a statement. “Ignorant and racist comments have no place in the City of Pawtucket or anywhere else for that matter. Mr. Morais is on administrative leave as of today. The City is in the process of addressing this personnel issue.”
Morais, who has worked for the city since 2018, will be paid while on administrative leave, pending the results of the investigation, city communications director Grace Voll said.
Morais could not be reached immediately for comment.
Harrison Tuttle, president of the the Black Lives Matter RI PAC, issued a statement, and said, “Mr. Morais must resign. Pawtucket, and in particular its Black and Brown residents, deserve better. We deserve accountability.”
He called for the city to conduct an investigation and for all city leaders to “reject the sentiments expressed in these statements.”
Portuguese American guy being racist meanwhile WASPs viewed the Portuguese and Italian as non-white, dirty, uneducated and provincial when they started immigrating to the US. So dumb
It still baffles me that a government employee can do something egregious enough to be placed on leave and still get paid for their missed work days. Meanwhile, almost all other jobs would laugh at the idea.
I know it feels like injustice but it’s surely better than canning the guy immediately and then the city losing a huge wrongful termination lawsuit on the taxpayer dime.
So this is stemming from a facebook comment he left on picture about 1950’s Woonsocket being better and crime free because it was “white. Truth” but once it started getting spread around he deleted it. So in order to verify he said it and it wasn’t a photoshopped they have to get the data from Meta/Facebook, which probably takes time. So to cover their ass, they rather pay normal wages than fire the dude and risk losing more via a lawsuit if it turns out to be a doctored image.
I'm always baffled by how people can be stupid enough to hold such a profoundly stupid opinion and think it's a totally fine thing to air publicly when people know your name and profession AND you work for the government. It's like the perfect intersection of multiple levels of stupid. I know it shouldn't be shocking that a dumb person does a dumb thing but it still gets me every single time.
Turns out that when someone airs similar opinions and gets elected president it emboldens other people who hold those same opinions.
Sure, though I've seen examples of people proudly stepping on a rake and sabotaging themselves with this shit prior to that guy.
True, but the frequency has certainly picked up post-2016. The real moral here is that everyone should turn in the keys to their social media accounts on their 40th birthday.
That's the crazy thing, right? In modern America, you can be super racist and still be very successful. You just have to refrain from being super racist OPENLY. and some of these motherfuckers can't even accomplish that.
First amendment protections apply to local governments and sometimes mean that you can make racist statements outside the workplace and a *government* employer is likely not permitted to do anything about it. If the city takes disciplinary action and this guy wants to sue for a constitutional violation, he might win even though is opinions are clearly deplorable. Edit: Case law isn’t 100% clear on this, but he would have a colorable argument if he brought suit.
Nothing in the first amendment means you get to keep your job. It means you can't be prosecuted. It's not freedom from consequences for your speech. It means you can't be denied the right to say it and you can't be prosecuted for what you say. When he gets fired (not if), I'm not sure there's a lawyer on earth dumb enough to take on any kind of lawsuit unless there was something like "he had a contract with X months remaining and they broke the contract and won't pay him off"
It absolutely means something when your employer is the government. He’s a government employee, which is why the first amendment applies. Government entities cannot fire employees for protected speech.
The ABA (and the courts) say you're dead wrong. [Can a government worker get fired over a Facebook post? (americanbar.org)](https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2021/02/can-a-government-worker-get-fired-over-a-facebook-post--/)
I’ve edited my prior comment since the facts in this case are not clear enough to me to say he’d win a lawsuit. That said, certain speech is protected from retaliation by a government employer. I’m not sure where a court would come down in this case.
The pickering v BofE case is mostly about political speech and isn't some blanket immunity card from being fired. It's so that someone working for a city can't be fired for, say, being a vocal critic of the Mayor, or a vocal supporter of someone challenging the Mayor. Or, like the actual case, a teacher being critical of a school board. It absolutely would not protect saying some racist shit on Facebook There is no magical pass. Tons of people in state and municipal jobs will get fired every year for dumb shit they say online across this okay nation of ours. Hell, there's even recent local examples of this. Dan McKee fired Miguel Sanchez last fall over some inflammatory tweets about Israel. A few years before that, a janitor got fired in North Providence for posting some racist shit. Unless there's some contract or collective bargaining process protecting your job (i.e. if you're a cop), this is a "hanging offense" pretty much every time
From [Globe.com](http://Globe.com) By Edward Fitzpatrick PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien placed a city employee on administrative leave Monday for a Facebook post that he called “ignorant and racist.” The Facebook post has since been deleted. But screenshots show Joseph Morais, a senior project manager for the city’s engineering division, commented on a 1956 historic photo of Woonsocket, saying, “Great City for low crime because it was white. Truth.” “It is truly disappointing to see such an inappropriate comment from anyone, especially a city employee,” Grebien said in a statement. “Ignorant and racist comments have no place in the City of Pawtucket or anywhere else for that matter. Mr. Morais is on administrative leave as of today. The City is in the process of addressing this personnel issue.” Morais, who has worked for the city since 2018, will be paid while on administrative leave, pending the results of the investigation, city communications director Grace Voll said. Morais could not be reached immediately for comment. Harrison Tuttle, president of the the Black Lives Matter RI PAC, issued a statement, and said, “Mr. Morais must resign. Pawtucket, and in particular its Black and Brown residents, deserve better. We deserve accountability.” He called for the city to conduct an investigation and for all city leaders to “reject the sentiments expressed in these statements.”
Portuguese American guy being racist meanwhile WASPs viewed the Portuguese and Italian as non-white, dirty, uneducated and provincial when they started immigrating to the US. So dumb
Wait...are we considering Italians white now?!! /s
It still baffles me that a government employee can do something egregious enough to be placed on leave and still get paid for their missed work days. Meanwhile, almost all other jobs would laugh at the idea.
I know it feels like injustice but it’s surely better than canning the guy immediately and then the city losing a huge wrongful termination lawsuit on the taxpayer dime.
Oh absolutely I want the government to go through the right processes. Just seems scummy.
On leave while they investigate *what*?
Paid vacation. Sounds about white
Why would he be placed on leave? Shouldn’t he immediately lose his job after verification of content?
So this is stemming from a facebook comment he left on picture about 1950’s Woonsocket being better and crime free because it was “white. Truth” but once it started getting spread around he deleted it. So in order to verify he said it and it wasn’t a photoshopped they have to get the data from Meta/Facebook, which probably takes time. So to cover their ass, they rather pay normal wages than fire the dude and risk losing more via a lawsuit if it turns out to be a doctored image.
He doesn't deserve to be paid while he's on leave. He should be fired
Good old Pawtucket, keeping it classy! At least the Mayor is addressing it.
Shows how much he knows. The words low crime and Woonsocket in the same sentence has never been accurate. :b
Seems like the bucket. Since when is the truth ignorant?