Municipal worker suspended over Facebook

by: Jason Springer

Wed Jan 21, 2009 at 12:15:00 PM EST

Christopher Petronzio, who works in the Shade Tree and Parks Commission and volunteers as a firefighter, says the comments posted on the popular Internet networking site were taken out of context and had nothing to do with his job. Rather, he said, the borough is retaliating against him because he is an active member of a union that is suing the borough for unfair labor practices.

"What they did was they suspended me for something that was done on my time, not on theirs," he said.

Petronzio, who has more than 200 Facebook friends - including borough employees, a councilman and a former councilman - posted a greeting yesterday,  saying, "Chris would like to wish everyone a happy James Earl Ray day."

James Earl Ray is the man who assassinated King.

Petronzio's Facebook page also included an advertisement for Kentucky Fried Chicken superimposed on a picture of the White House. He also posted a racist slur referring to President Obama, Iacono said.

"This is obviously a gray area," Iacono said. "This is his personal Web page, and it?s not really any of our business until it's brought to our attention. Our concern is that it was brought to our attention."

Separate from the legal issues of whether it can be used against you, I just make it a general rule not to put something out there that could blow back in my face. We are certainly going to see more instances of information posted by people in public forums possibly being used against them.

I was told social networking sites are a gold mine for information when recently talking to a company that does background checks. When I managed campaigns, I used to tell my candidates, if you don't' want to defend it, don't say it.  I guess you can modify that for technology and say don't post it either now.