Nov 19, 2009 11:44 pm US/Eastern
N.J. Custodian Loses Job Over Facebook Comment
PEMBERTON, N.J. (CBS 3) ―
An employee of the Burlington County school system was officially terminated Thursday for a critical comment about his employer that he made on the social media site Facebook.
"I was blowing off steam, just venting, everyone makes comments on Facebook," said Roy Torrez Jr.
Torrez Jr., 28, had been a custodian at Emmons Elementary in Pemberton for two and half years.
But when he criticized the district's handling of apparent swine flu cases at his school on his personal Facebook page of 400 friends, he was let go. His termination was made official during a school board meeting Thursday evening.
The post in question read:
'Having H1N1 and coming to work anyways, really smart people. And the administration isn't going to tell parents about it'
"There were two bad words in it, but I was a little upset," Torrez said.
Torrez says his supervisor gave him a "keep quiet" warning in October, and then last week he was fired.
Torrez told CBS 3 that he can't afford an attorney and his NJEA union lawyer told him that because he had no contractual tenure, the school can terminate him for whatever reason they see fit.
The school district declined CBS 3's request for an interview saying it was a "personnel matter," but a source familiar with the case tells CBS 3 that because Torrez made Facebook comments using his phone while he was on the clock, when he was supposed to be working, it is being considered "theft of service".
A humbled Torrez attended the board meeting Thursday when he was officially fired.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Hottest Celebrity Redheads
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments