Privacy Issues in the Community College Workplace

There is generally no nexus between an employee’s private, off-duty use of illegal drugs or alcohol as long as it does not involve on-the-job impairment. In Vielehr v. State Personnel Board , 501 the court considered the issue of whether a state tax representative trainee with the Department of Human Resources was properly dismissed for his conviction of possession of marijuana while off-duty. The court reversed and remanded the case to the trial court on the grounds that no obvious relationship existed between possession of marijuana off-duty and the duties of a tax representative trainee. An exception to this general rule exists, however, for sworn peace officers and safety-sensitive positions, discussed more fully in the section on drug and alcohol testing. Dible v. Chandler In this case, a police officer sued his employer for terminating him because, while off duty, he operated a pornographic website that featured sexually explicit photographs and videos of his wife. The police officer took pains to keep the police out of the picture, “but because of other clues and information, it became publicly known that he was involved and that he was a police officer.” The court held that despite the plaintiff’s efforts to keep his affiliation with the police department a secret, there was a nexus between the police officer’s activity and his employment, reasoning that “it can seriously be asked whether a police officer can ever disassociate himself from his powerful public position sufficiently to make his speech (and other activities) entirely unrelated to that position in the eyes of the public and his superiors.” This language suggests that at least for some public employees, such as police officers, any off duty conduct will be deemed to have a “nexus” to his/her employment. 502 San Diego Unified School District v. Commission on Professional Competence (Lampedusa) 503 A California Court of Appeal found that a nexus existed between off-duty Internet postings of a middle school administrator and his performance as an educator. Frank Lampedusa was a tenured dean of students in the San Diego Unified School District. He placed an ad on Craigslist stating that he wished to engage in sexual relations with another adult. The ad also contained pictures of Lampedusa’s face and genitalia. However, the ad did not reveal Lampedusa’s name nor his employment. An anonymous parent of a student reported the ad to the school police who notified the District’s administration of Lampedusa’s ad. The District placed Lampedusa on paid administrative leave and eventually terminated him for “evident unfitness for service” and “immoral conduct,” under the Education Code. Lampedusa appealed his termination to a three-member commission on professional competence. The commission ordered Lampedusa reinstated, reasoning that the District failed to establish a nexus between his conduct and his performance as an educator. The District appealed the decision to the trial

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