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Roberts V. Careflite Case Summary

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In 2012, Janis E. Roberts sued her former employer (CareFlite) for what she reasoned was an invasion of privacy by intrusion upon seclusion. CareFlite argues that Roberts was terminated for what they deemed as “unprofessional and insubordinate” (CITE THE CASE) activity posted on her Facebook. Roberts was working as a paramedic and she posted a comment on her coworker Schoenhardt’s page claiming that she “wanted to slap the patient” (CITE THE CASE) who was deemed to require restraining. An officer from Careflite noticed the post and the officer sent Roberts a message regarding the fact that the public can see her post and encourages Roberts to delete it. After Roberts responded to the officer’s message with an aggressive tone, Roberts deleted her original post that contained the “slap” comment. After this occurred, Roberts sent her coworker and email of the exchange of the messages between her and the compliance officer. However, Roberts …show more content…

CareFlite is a notable case in regards to invasion of privacy various reasons. The first reason that this case is notable is due to the fact that it brings to question whether it is legal for an employer to terminate their employee over what was said on a Facebook post. In addition to this reason, it is important to question the legality of using not just the post itself, but the legality of terminating an employee due to what was said in a private Facebook message that is directed to a specific individual. The post made by Roberts was published on Facebook where it was public for the world to see, but this post was not made in the workplace, which brings to question of whether or not this piece of information can be deemed as “private”; however, the messages sent to the compliance officer was meant to be private because it can only be seen by the officer. These reasons make the case notable because it brings up the issue of whether an individual’s Facebook can be considered as part of their right to privacy of

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