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Subscribe to RSSA former employee at the Library of Congress is claiming he was fired after he "liked" a Facebook page for same-sex parents, an act he says led to his boss discovering he is gay. WRC-TV's Jim Handly reports.
A former management analyst at the Library of Congress is claiming he was fired after he "liked" a Facebook page for same-sex parents, an act he says led to his boss discovering he is gay.
Peter TerVeer liked the “Two Dads” page on Facebook, a group that helps “promote the gay and lesbian community,” according to the page.
When his manager, John Mech, discovered he was gay, TerVeer’s once-positive performance reviews turned negative, he alleges, and his boss started making derogatory statements about his sexual orientation, according to TerVeer's attorney Thomas Simeone.
Simeone would not comment on details of the case, but a Roll Call article published Tuesday said shortly after TerVeer liked the Two Dads page:
TerVeer said he started to receive emails from Mech that contained ‘religiously motivated harassment and discrimination.’ Mech then called him into a meeting for the purposes of ‘educating him on hell and that it awaited him for being a homosexual.’
TerVeer's therapist ordered him to take medical leave because of the stress, Simeone said. He was fired last week for missing 37 consecutive days of work.
A spokeswoman for the Library of Congress said she could not comment on personnel matters. But the Library released a statement saying, “Library of Congress employees, like all employees in the federal government, have protection against workplace discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Library employees who believe they have been subjected to discrimination may avail themselves of an internal administrative process to address their equal employment opportunity complaints.”
TerVeer filed a claim with Library of Congress’ Equal Employment Opportunity Complaints Office, Simeone said. The office has until mid-May to make a ruling. After that, TerVeer can take his case to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC spokeswoman Christine Nazer would not comment on the case.
Even though sexual orientation discrimination was part of the case, Simeone said his client will fight the termination based on religious bias. He said laws protecting workers against sexual orientation discrimination are limited and provide few, if any, remedies for compensating workers in cases like TerVeer's.
Whatever the outcome, it’s a wake-up call for employees who may not yet understand the extent to which their social media participation can impact their careers. The question of what’s private and what’s not on social networking sites is rearing its head in the workplace more often.
This month Maryland became the first state to ban the practice of asking for a job candidate or worker's social networking password; and Illinois is considering similar legislation, said Daniel Prywes, an employment attorney for Bryan Cave. “The proposed bills would broadly prohibit employers from seeking access to private areas of social media accounts, with no exceptions for law enforcement or similar sensitive types of employment.”
Facebook has threatened to “take action to protect the privacy and security of our users” in cases where employers seek passwords.
While most companies don’t cyber snoop on workers and job candidates, it can be legal for your employer to mine your social media meandering and take adverse action against you for something on your Facebook or LinkedIn, as long as your employer doesn’t thwart discrimination laws or collective bargaining rights.
Discuss this issue on our Facebook page. But remember, your boss might be reading.
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I cannot recall an instance where my parents employers would have felt they had the right to interfere in my parents private life. What you did outside of work was your own business. I cannot recall an instance where my parents were forced to provide bodily fluid, hair or fingernails in order to qualify for employment. They did not have to provide a credit report or any of those things and guess what? Everything worked out just fine for them. We can say without a doubt that these invasions of privacy have not made our nation a better place, they have made it worse. Each ALEC created law hands more power over your personal life to the corporations and then main street adopts those practices as 'something that has always been done.' That is plain BS. This invasion started in the late 90's and we are raising a whole generation of kids without the freedoms that we had for 'part' of our life. The only people getting rich are the lawyers, employees are getting screwed and employers think they own you. This guys supervisor was LOOKING for what he suspected. This guys supervisor has been given no reason by his employer NOT to think he doesn't own this employee 24/7. That is why the supervisor thinks he has the right to dictate personal beliefs. This problem is solely due to management, as all business problems are. Our business environment, changed for the worse by Reaganomics, has been aptly displayed in it's by product, Mitt Romney. That is the face of corporate greed and employee's bleed. Fascism disguised in the cloak of business is still fascism.
Agree with you a hundred percent. Ironic how employers don't care if an employee is a raging alcoholic as long as they don't top it off with a dooby. And if you're looking for a job, especially after just losing one, you're credit score counts against you? My brother had his credit score thrown in his face while interviewing for a job at a mental hospital. They claimed to be a business, ha! Funny thing is they got in deep trouble for not being up on what medicade does and doesn't cover and ended up owing the feds 200 million dollars.
It's too bad that Rick Santorum had to suspend his campaign, or we could have had a shot at repealing these silly laws that forbid supervisors to warn their employees about the dark, smoldering trenches of hell.
I am so sick of hearing how everyone blaming someone else. I do not believe that people hate the blacks, gays, Mexicans.. Quit playing the blame game.
I do believe that there is bad people out there in every race.
There are people who 'hate', and one should be ever-vigilant for them. That
includes those who 'hate' you and me. Such people really do exist.
Unfortunately his boss was a crazed religious zealot who had it out for him. This is a textbook harassment case.
Unfortunately his boss was a crazed religious zealot who had it out for him. This is a textbook harassment case.
Well, there you go. Post more personal information on line and in cyber space, and see where it gets you! This may be the land of the free and the home of the brave, but it's also the home of the silent, conservative, not too liberal majority. Everyone has equal rights, that is until you voice your position. Not everyone thinks the same way, and unfortunately, it could come back to bite you. Too bad for you...maybe you should have stayed in the closet or asked Carson Kressley for some advice! I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin', know what I'm sayin'?
This is yet another reason why I got rid of facebook...it just seems like there is too many ways it can be used against you rather then FOR you
this is why i dont have facebook or myspace or any of those social media networks, when iw as told to join them ? i always say i dont have a computer, and no one can force you to buy a computer, a whil eback some company got my email by mistake told the poor guy that they had to have his passwoirds to his personal email and messenger service and facebook account, i emailed them back said you hav eth wrong prson they sent me another email and said sir, you wil be fired if we dont get this information by noon today, i replied so fire me, then a bunch of swear words attached to the email at thier hr person, never heard from them again, but iw ont join it for any reason,but iom also retired and dont care abou tthat crap anyway, i have a life whyi dont text or have asmart phone, too fangersous for people to get too much information on you andyour private life, which is no ones bussiness
GREAT... lets make another law that is explicitly for one group of people...so they can feel safe and not picked on...GROW-UP gay people...you are a small percent of the population...which...makes you different...not that there's anything wrong with that.
So say your Jewish and I spend my work time trying to convert you to Christianity and tell you you are going to hell because you have the wrong beliefs... Would that be OK? I mean Jews are a small percent of the population so....
Are you saying Gay people are trying to convert Non-Gay people? I'm saying stop showing how different you are by asking for special rule and laws for your small group. If that's the case we can all start our own minority group called "ME" because no two people are alike.
@whynot-3744228 - no he's saying the "Christian" person (the boss) was trying to convert the employee to behaving/living in accordance with the boss's Christian religious beliefs
The employee wasn't asking for a special rule he filed suit because the boss appears to have created a hostile work environment in his interactions with the employee which were religious in nature (subjecting the employee to and imposing his religious views on the employee and penalizing him for not capitulating) in violation of the first amendment. If that boss did the same thing to me or even just sent me emails that were religiously motivated and educating me on hell and how I'd be going there for not being Christian, you bet I'd have sent those emails to HR and demand action be taken.
What a world we live in with such discrimination. However, people who do who claim religion as their reason for the discrimination forget "judge not or ye will be judged."
Those SAVAGES how dare they do that !
Firstly, I have just deleted my facebook account and would urge anyone who values their privacy to do the same.
Secondly, religious zealots, please stop imposing your worldview on everyone around you - especially your employees. If you don't want to suck a dick, don't - or do and STFU for all I care. Just stop with the bull$#!t.
Facebook only allows members to connect with "friends," but will let everybody in
the world see members' messages. Does that sound 'right' to you?
It sounds like we have some evangelical or fundamentalist Christians, aboard, with
their usual gay-prejudiced issues. If the individual is or was having problems, he
can have a medical or mental-health professional write a letter, but his supervisor does not seem to be 'open' to that ('typical behavior' for a 'close-minded' religious
person). it seems that more than a temporary suspension would be considered too severe, in this case.
For all of you conservative Christians, I hope that God lets you into Heaven, after
hearing all of your hard-heartedness. God says to love, and not to judge. God is
the judge, and it is ours to love. What I hear is bias, discrimination, and prejudice
coming through loud and clear. I do not hear the use of 'critical analysis' (striving
to see the struggle of what another individual goes through). Have you spent too
many hardened days on earth? If so, now is a good time to change.
If you are career oriented, keep your personal life personal. Don't air your clean or dirty laundry on a social media site. When you look back a couple of years later, you will realize how stupid you looked.
A social media site should be a place where one can share his or her thoughts
and feelings, without being jeopardized by your church, employer, or by any so-
called 'power people'. If individuals wanted to be punished, for speaking their
heart or mind, they certainly would not become members of any social media
site. I have found chat rooms to be brutal, but Facebook is 'the devil incarnate'.
Facebook, and other social media sites, take the caveat (warning), or someone
may end up suing for megamillions.
Our parents teach us to be honest, if not truthful, but either one may place us
in deep jeopardy. Fortunately, there are people we can share confidences with.
Social networks, obviously, have not learned the importance of protecting their members. However, according to Karma, 'what goes around, comes around'.
"But the Library released a statement saying, “Library of Congress employees, like all employees in the federal government, have protection against workplace discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act." Yeah, right.
Then why was he fired? He was fired because his boss is a religious perpetrator who should not be anyone's boss, ever, and should, himself, be fired. Unless someone is doing something illegal on social media, it is nobody's f*cking business! Stand up for your rights, people. Otherwise, the church/corp/state will turn you into non-entities. This isn't a communist, socialist, Nazi, Islamic or some other sort of totalitarian country, so f*ck them for demanding to pry into your private lives.
And, for you a**holes who think he should have been fired because he is gay, wake the f*ck up. You have brothers, sisters, relatives, fathers, mothers, friends, church members, etc., etc., who are gay. You just don't know it because you're such a**holes and they're afraid to tell you.
Religion poisons everything.
waaahhh! waaahhh! Baby.
OMFG! You people will use anything excuse to get a free ride! Hello!?!?!?!?!?! You missed 37 days of work because your counselor suggested it. I'd fire you too. Loser. Then you'll have plenty of time for your pity parties.
no pun intended
FMLA....maybe you should read a little before popping off
The article doesn't mention FMLA, only the blogs do. Maybe you should stop popping yourself off...it's starting to warp your brain and give you a false sense of reality. Maybe you should sue someone too because you're a dipsh*t?
Hushup... Hushup and listen... it is not OK for you to force your religious dogma on your employees.... PERIOD! You may NOT tell me I am going to hell and demean and abuse me because we have different beliefs.... Got IT??
Look people, if it was recommended by a DR. to take time off. PER FMLA, he can take up to 12 weeks off of work for Medical reasons, and his job is still protected. He just has to notify his employee he is taking medical leave. It doesn't matter if you have enough Paid vacation or sick time to cover it....
Well...it doesn't really say in the article if he took FMLA now does it. And it's a counselor. Not a doctor. Nothing wrong with him, except maybe he's just stupid.
It only says it was a therapist. Therapists may be psychiatrists, which are licensed medical doctors. Even if it wasn't a medical doctor, if the therapist in question could legally make Mr. TerVeer take medical leave, and Mr. TerVeer was legally given the right to take medical leave by the system under which he was employed, and did so for the 37 consecutive days in question, the therapist's qualifications are irrelevant.
People should just stop using facebook.....it's obviously more trouble than it's worth.
My opinion on the subject is that "2 dads" is ridiculous and shouldn't even exist.....essentially "2 dads" would mean that the human race couldn't exist. That said, it's none of the boss' business what websites the employee frequents, as long as it isn't on work time.
thats weird i thought facebook was for SOCIAL networking not BUSINESS/COPORATE networking. I cant really blame businesses tho. it was facebook that embraced them in the way they did. OOPS.
He set his boss up. Lets out he is Gay, and then instead of complaining at the time,
Takes 37 days to make sure he was fired and could sue for discrimination. I dont agree with discrimination, but come on dude! He wasnt stupid and knew that in todays current PC world for every variation, as long as he was fired and could show
the his worlplace new, he could sue.
He set his boss up. Lets out he is Gay, and then instead of complaining at the time, Takes 37 days to make sure he was fired and could sue for discrimination. I dont agree with discrimination, but come on dude! He wasnt stupid and knew that in todays current PC world for every variation, as long as he was fired and could show that his workplace knew, he could sue.
That boss is obviously in the wrong; you do not go about bullying people for things which are irrelevant to workplace performance. Harassment is a serious issue with serious consequences. Mr. TerVeer may have taken 37 days off for medical leave, but if not, it's understandable he'd not want to go to work and be subjected to such abuse (which no doubt would have escalated or continued).
Think of it another way: if my boss was a Democrat and I was a Republican, and I voted for Romney in the next election, my boss could not fire me for voting Republican. Neither could my boss fire me for being a vegetarian, using IE over Firefox, or for dressing up in an animal costume in my spare time (none of which I am or do).
The professional life has no place in the personal life. Your lifestyle should have no bearing on your employment qualifications and performance, unless the particular place of employment requires certain views (such as for religious or non-governmental political institutions, which are exceptions).
Mr. TerVeer was fired for missing 37 consecutive days of work. If he missed those days because the stress and emotional damage induced by harassment warranted a 37 day medical leave, he is entitled to his suit and should win. If not, he may have a tougher time getting financial restitution and his job back; it is not impossible, however.
First of all, to all you Ding Dongs who post thier lives on FaceBook, you get what you deserve for being that self indulged and stupid ! (The world dont care who you "Like")
Secondly, not that I like Homo's at all.....But I like people who preach religion EVEN LESS !!
Religion is the cause of almost all wars throughout history, and Homosexuals are the cause of the worst known disease to infect humans (That we still cant cure)
"Religion is the cause of almost all wars throughout history, and Homosexuals are the cause of the worst known disease to infect humans (That we still cant cure)"
This guy is funny
Well Calmike, you are half right. However, the oldest known case of AIDS was trailed back to a woman in Africa over a 100 years ago, and know one knows if she was homosexual. Although it spreads more rampantly due to risky behavior in homosexual communities, it doesn't mean they caused it. I, think dudes are gross, but whatever keeps people happy is alright with me as long as they don't try to make me join their club. I do have to agree, people that preach religion are the bane of my existence. If my supervisor called me in to talk about god, I would have his ass fired IMMEDIATELY! I probably wouldn't wait 37 days to do something about it though.
HIV originated from monkeys.
Almost all wars? I don't think so. Desperation and/or greed causes war much more easily effectively. Human tribes killed each other before they even knew how communicate between each other. People killed each other before they could even talk about religion. Those who led wars claimed to be part of a religion to unite their people usually after or during a time of desperation. Although I'm sure it helped that many did not know how to read during the crusades. Maybe more "christians" would have known how to be Christ-like instead of being brainwashed. Even so, I can't blame them: "The Crusades resulted as a reaction of Muslim aggression against the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantines) as well as the Christians mistreatment of Muslim caravans. The Muslims were running constant aggressive conquest campaigns on Christian lands as part of their imperialistic expansion."
Now why would they need to expand? Oh. We're back to basic greed again.
"The Islamic Crusades were very successful. The Byzantines and Persian Empires had worn themselves out with fighting, so a power vacuum existed. Into this vacuum stormed Islam." -americanthinker.com
Religion did play a role in the crusades no doubt. It made for more of an excuse, at best, for the same thing that has happened since the dawn of man, still happens today, and will most likely continue to happen... regardless of religion. The only difference now is that many who are religious have a better since of what their roots are about.... which actually tends to not be war for most mainstream religions.
easily and effectively*
have a better sense*
Im not saying greed is always a bad thing. I just dont think either would have had fought in the crusades if these "holy places" were 200 miles in the desert with no gain other than for religious purposes...
Interesting that the Library of Congress cited the Civil Rights law because, as they fully know, the Civil Rights laws DOES NOT include sexual orientation.
Get straight with the Lord & yourself and you won't have to worry about getting fired!
Hilarious !!!..another preacher we dont need...keep your dam religion to yourself
lookout rose we got religious police.
No on is policing religion, it simply doesn't belong in the workplace. People should be free to live their lives without bible thumping morons trying to spray us with jesus juice and save our hell destined souls. The truth is, if you are ignorant enough to buy all that nonsense they give you in church, you probably don't deserve a supervisors position in the first place.
If there should be no religion in the workplace, there sure as hell shouldn't be any gay grandstanding either. Keep that sh*t to yourselves also!!!!! Literally. Sickos
I don't think this was "gay grandstanding" this gay man liked a certain page on his facebook page, away from the workplace. I certainly would be first to stand up against some kind of gay pride parade at work, but to be pulled in to a private conference to talk about your relationship with baby jesus is ridiculous. I think both religion and sexual orientation should probably be kept within the confines of ones personal life, and should not spill into ones occupation.
"No on is policing religion, it simply doesn't belong in the workplace."
I agree. These are online forums though.