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Three Toronto Firefighters Fired Over Tweets

9/18/2013

8 Comments

 
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Yet another social media “oops” has surfaced in the news – and this time, it happened in Canada. This past Monday, three Toronto firefighters were terminated based on comments they made on social media. This recent decision was met with heavy criticism and sparked anger from their union, which insists that the firings do nothing to promote a culture of respect in the city’s fire hall (Source: City News). 

What makes this case a little different from some of the other “social media blunders” we’ve seen in the past, is that their terminations resulted from a month-long investigation into the firefighter’s tweets and other social media posts. Toronto Fire Chief Jim Sales said that the investigation was launched after a media report in August said two firefighters had posted several posts on Twitter that were seen as degrading to women (Source: City News). Many of the posts in question were direct quotes from television shows like The Office and South Park.

Here are some of the tweets under fire from firefighter Matt Bowman (@Hero_Matt): 

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Line from a 2006 episode of The Office
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Line from a 1997 episode of South Park
A few months later, firefighter Lawaun Edwards posted the following response to a friend’s tweet:
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Photo Credit: National Post
Upon learning of these tweets last month, Bowman and Edwards were both suspended with pay (Source: The Star). However, Sales has said that they have now been let go along with a third firefighter who has not yet been identified. The investigation discovered a “pattern” of inappropriate social media use and public comments that were in violation of the city policies (Source: City News).
As employees of the City of Toronto, firefighters are required to follow the city’s social media guidelines. These guidelines state that:
"Employees should not engage in harassment, personal attacks, or abuse toward individuals or organizations,” and “not use language that is discriminatory, hateful, or violent towards identifiable groups or that incites others to discriminate, practice hate or violence.” 
It remains to be seen if these tweets were posted while on the job or during personal time. This is a question that has also surfaced in many other cases surrounding employee terminations due to inappropriate or discriminatory social media posts or actions (see Big Brother Blog and NFL Blog): Does behaviour displayed outside of the workplace hold the same weight as behaviour displayed within the workplace when it comes to terminations?
In a statement to the press, Jim Sales (on behalf of Toronto Fire Services) went on to say that: 
“The Toronto public service fosters a corporate culture that sets the highest standard of integrity, professionalism, and ethical behaviour. It is our expectation all employees demonstrate and uphold these core values... Members of the Toronto Fire Service are in positions of public trust. This trust is paramount to the division’s ability to carry out its work and deliver critical services to all Toronto residents”. 
In response to these terminations, the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters Association (Union) issued a public statement reading:
“The association is outraged by these terminations and will make every effort to have these members reinstated. These terminations neither address the specific issues that have been raised nor do they promote the alleged objectives of the fire service.”
So what do you think about these recent terminations? Are you siding with Toronto Fire Services on this one or the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters Association? Leave your comments below.

We'd love to connect with you!
8 Comments
Xander
9/18/2013 03:46:32 am

Whether the tweets were "offensive" or not depends on whether you went to graduate school in women's studies or come from a working class background full of tough, resilient women who aren't easily rattled. The only part I'm interested in the question of whether we've learned the whole story, because what has been presented thus far falls far short of a reason to terminate three people and economically imperil their families and their career and mental health. I don't like that we're heading towards thought control and 'terminating' people with incorrect but legal views. In a diverse country, we're going to have to be a little bit tolerant that there is a multiplicity of views on what constitutes 'sexism' (one of the three tweets qualifies in my books) and offence. As someone who has spent three decades fighting homophobia, my approach is mostly to shrug it off, remember that we are succeeding, and take chances to educate people while maintaining some coolness and stoicism and flexibility. Life is too short to take offence at everything, and this notion that repeating a joke from a sitcom via twitter in some manner "permits" violence against women is so far-fetched that it almost defies comment. Except that three men willing to risk their lives to do their jobs have now been deprived of their livelihood and possibly their and their families emotional and economic stability. Many people never recover from terminations like this. We see the impacts of this almost every day.

Reply
Ollie C
9/30/2015 11:45:35 pm

These tweets are offensive, period. The city is a workplace and fire fighters are suppose to be professionals. As a female firefighter I find that workplace sexism is rampant. It is high time the city takes a stance on misogyny. Unfortunately the union fought to rehired two of these spineless, unethical, hateful men called fire fighters.

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Susan Hauffen-Grauff
9/18/2013 03:50:57 am

Ridiculous. As a women I am offended that this was done in my name. My son is a firefighter. I don't know what jokes he and his pals share, but he treats his girlfriend well and pays the expenses of her kids by another man who is a deadbeat. If he got fired for telling an off-color joke you'd have to deal with me and all my neighbor ladies down at the fire department. And we'd smack some sense into you and it won't feel like foreplay.

Reply
Ollie C.
9/30/2015 11:51:03 pm

Wow, Susan. Do you always use violence as a means to resolve differences of opinion? This is exactly the type of attitude that makes for a toxic, poisonous work environment. If sexist, homophobic and anti-semetic statements and jokes are tolerated in the fire stations, this may well precede threatening and violent behaviour. As a female fire fighter I have experienced intense harassment and discrimination. Kudos to the city for taking a stand. Violence against women must stop.

Reply
Kat
1/19/2014 01:40:33 pm

Xander - WRONG - this is offensive to anyone who IS a woman because it is directed at women. This is abuse and it is unacceptable. This type of behavior is the reason why there even are women's studies classes.

To the firefighters who wrote these comments and anyone else who thinks it's "funny" and "Harmless" go ahead and say it out loud to your mother and your daughter. Let them tell you if it's funny then.

Reply
Ollie C.
9/30/2015 11:51:44 pm

Well said Kat!

Reply
Jill
8/12/2014 08:53:10 am

KAT: "this is offensive to anyone who IS a woman because it is directed at women. This is abuse and it is unacceptable."

Absurd! I am a woman, and woman of serious substance at that. I am a wife, mother of 3, a successful entrepreneur and have a full time 9-5 career.
Weak-minded people such as yourself, who cry over someone else's opinion appear silly and pathetic to the rest of functional society...oh sorry, was that abusive? Get over it.

Reply
Ollie C.
9/30/2015 11:54:55 pm

Jill,

Are you even aware of the extremely sexist comments made by these men about women? The comments are so disturbing, they cannot be reprinted. The city is taking a stand on eradicating sexism bringing us one step closer to equality in the workplace.

Reply



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