Up in Flames - Workplace Solutions
Up in Flames - Workplace Solutions
Fired at Work for Social Media Photos - Are you next?
Presley Pritchard, a former firefighter paramedic, filed a wrongful termination suit alleging she was let go from her job in August after being “directly targeted due to how I looked in my gym attire,” among other things.
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Abby: 0:00
Hello, hat there up in blames listenerThanks for being back here with me. Your host, Abbie Bolts. Where we talk about, you know, instead of going down in flames, let's talk about some issues and get people to go up in flames. Spring attention to, um, do things differently. Choose the hard right over easy silence. You know all that stuff. Let's do this. So last week I talked Thio. Last episode on every guy's listening to me. I talked about social media integrity, and it's funny that right after I got done talking about that boom gal that I've been talking to on Instagram for a while now because she inspired me in Cal's spell. Montana got canned for her Instagram posts. So I noticed her well over a year ago because I'm always looking for inspirational women on social media that are either in law enforcement or fire military because it's really hard to find the ones that aren't just flat out scantily clad, you know, trying to be penitent girls. So there's a lot of pages and interview or excuse me ah, hashtags and Instagram profiles that are focused on really sexy, provocative photos, and that's just not what I'm looking to promote and share and inspire young women with. I'm looking for ones that are strong. That of course, yeah, they could be beautiful, but that's not about that's not what it's about. We missed the point when we've got a bunch of bikinis and eyelashes running around. I like, I don't if it is happens to be sexy, but it shows a woman strong and doing, ah, hardworking job. I think that's really cool. So I started noticing, um Pritchard while Presley Pritchard I started noticing some of her stuff, one because I liked her inspirational photos and what she was showing. And then I also liked what she would write about with them. You know, she would always kind of write a piece on there, and I had reached out to her and asked her about if she was catching any help from her department about it. And so we checked out and we compared some stories and, uh, lo and behold, yeah, she had been, you know, catching some B s from them over it. And I kept sharing herself in in helping her promote in wanting to spread the good word and then all of a sudden boom. A couple months ago, she was can And this New York Times article or excuse me New York Post article captures it so well that I'm actually going to utilize some of their writing in it to share with you guys to give you some of the details because it really you know, long story short, What's really funny is whoever was on this department that wanted to knock her backwards, which was some people on the board, and then it even became some of the women in the department. All they have done is exploded. Her career is an influencer. She went from, like under 100,000 followers on Instagram to 140 in like a week. And that wasn't her intent. That was not her intent. They they brought attention to this, and the attention is focusing on that. She was really doing a really good thing. Now the reason that I had asked her way back when is I saw that she was in department gear in front of department trucks, you know, with the department name in the background. So that's why I was curious how they were taking that, especially on little town in Montana. But you look around. Do you know how much this is happening everywhere? It's happening all over the place, but they didn't have a social media policy in place. Some places do some places. Don't I know? This has always been something I've been nervous about. And, well, let's let's see what this article says and then we'll discuss a little bit more. So the headline is. A Montana firefighter says she was axed over racy instagram pics of a good one. Acts like that. Montana firefighter claims she was fired for posting provocative work out photos to her i G account. According to new reports. Presley Pritchard, 27 formally a part time firefighter paramedic with Evergreen Fire Rescue, filed a wrongful termination claim with the department, alleging that officials fired her because of her gender and singled her out over her social media use. Pritchard, who had about who has about 139,000 I default now remember, this is not that's not how many she have over They fired her is also a personal trainer and post videos of herself working on the gym shooting her gun and snowboarding. The trouble began for Pritchard back in July of 18 when Evergreen Fire district board member claimed a concerned citizen quotes contacted him about Pritchard social media activity. Since then, she was reprimanded about 20 times over her social media posts, her superior scolding her over how she looked in her uniform and about her work attire both at the fire station and her personal Jim. Now, when I say scolded her, they were giving her hell because of what her ass look like in her uniform pants. In fact, if I'm not sure if they talk about in this one, but I know that they even asked her to not where the women's cut toe, where the men's cut just so that it was less flattering. It was just ongoing. They call me in for everything, she said. It was like always walking on the eggshells there. Someone even complained that Pritchard standard is she. Women fans are here we go. We're too provocative. So the department issued her men's uniform pants, so I was like, Wow, fine, I'll wear men's pants. Are you serious? Am I supposed to leave my butt at home in February of 19 and Instagram pros, Pritchard is shown standing in front of a fire truck wearing an evergreen fire rescue T shirt and tight fitting dark blue pants. My face, when someone mentions how I'm provocative is in professional attire, she posted with the laughing emerging. If you're a female in this field, especially an attractive or curvy girl, you're going to be ridiculed. You're going to be mocked, made fun of, talked about, poorly judged by looks. All you guys were looking for INSTAGRAM account right now or two, she told me. She told the news outlets that her male colleagues have posted similar content. It's just really, really hypocritical, she said. It's just sucks because you see firefighters out there with these sexy firefighter calendars. That's right, folks with these calendars, sure, they're raising money for charity. But what's the difference? And if females did that, they would literally be like, beaten to death. Everyone would call him sluts and whores, but it's okay for guys, just like how it was okay for every guy in my department have photos of themselves, a training. Pritchard was sacked last August because she left photos of herself in uniform of an other content related to her work online after being asked to remove them within five days. But she claims she didn't take them down on the advice of a lawyer who said that she didn't have to because the department did not have a written standard social media policy. In late December, Evergreen Fire Chief Craig Williams told the daily Interior Lake paper in a statement that the district employees a diverse staff, of which nearly half are female and established and has established policies and procedures to address complaints. The district takes very serious all allegations it receives from concerning workplace conditions, Williams said. While the complainant never made or reported any allegations to the district while she was employed, the district hired an independent investigator to complete an investigation concerning the validity of the complaints. After a thorough investigation, no evidence was found to support any of the complaints allegations. Now Pritchard is studying for her flight paramedic test and says she hopes to encourage other women dealing with similar issues at work. It's really important that somebody stands up for it and speaks out and I really don't care, she told vice. It's like, say whatever you want. I have thick skin that others don't. So I think that, you know, she's taking a pretty good stance on this. And after talking to her for a little bit, I think What, um, where they went sideways, where I'm imagine they probably went sideways is, as you know, like social media, people that have a huge following that are like big time legit, Um, influencers. They start getting paid by companies that want them to post about their step. So how do you handle this? If you are like, if you have 500 followers and you're just posting these pictures for your buddies, it's not a big deal. But then when you got when you are someone that people notice and people start following you to the point where it's huge, and then what if the company wants to reach out to you and have you post something? It's not about the fire department. It's about your fitness ability or regimen or influence, but your other posts that aren't paid posts are personal in about the fire department. So how do you mix all of that? And you can't just split off separate your private professionally from your professional private like it just kids stole is that we see, can you guys see where this probably got weird? And it brings up a really good discussion and conversation about social media again. You know, there's there's using your posts for profit. But then what about using them for charity? Because just because money is being raised to go to charity doesn't mean the money's not being raised, that something's not being used for influence, to exchange for money so that all the mud, all the waters, get super, super dark gray and murky. And you just really have to think about what it is that you're promoting. Honestly, there is no black and white. It's just so dang foggy that it's really hard to pin down and put your finger on, because I mean okay, so every agency I can think of there are people that post whether it's them and their family at the fire station or in the military, or they're in their fatigues like think about all the pictures out there online that are representing any agency a department, A something. Are those being taken while they're on the clock? Are they being taken by them or they mean posted by them or by someone else. And I mean, I could just rattle on forever the confusing gray area of all of this. So where this case is gonna fall? I don't know. It doesn't, of course, sound like because we're mostly hearing from her. So doesn't sound like that. It was held in a legit manner that they're handled it properly. It's just hard to say, like, who got frustrated. But, you know, the department hasn't attorney has a law firm that represents them, and I would think they would have looked into it. But, man, if they really looked across the board across the nation and all the different posts from different people in different apartments and how they were representing you know what's the difference if on their off time are they getting paid for fitness post? Is that not, You know, where is the line drawn? I, uh it's so you guys help me understand this here, and I would love for you to share with me stories, situations where social media got people in trouble fairly or unfairly. Like this is somebody sharing posts in a positive manner with inspiration. But somebody got pissed because they didn't like that she was representing the department or they didn't like that she was sexy online. I'm not sure which which it is now. If maybe she wasn't even good looking and they meant nothing, would they have cared? I don't know. It all just depends on who's blanket. You become a burr under on how things go down. Now there's people that will post about policy issues or things going on at work, and the next thing you know, they're under investigation. I'm talking a gal right now that's dealing with that. She posted her feelings about dealing with some stuff at work and then, poof. She's under an employee relations investigation. It's just he can get silly. You know, if you're going to become a target, someone will find a way to make you a target. So do we. Just don't go quiet and hide under a rug and not be ourselves and not be out there trying to do good things. Or do we keep doing good things and fight the monsters? Let him come. It's just really whatever. Whatever you have the heart for, whatever you have the energy for. It's never easy, you know, maybe it is easier to just go hide under head under a log butt. Most people I know just can't do that. I know I can't do that, but I definitely hide a lot more than I should because of people dumping on me. So I get it could be hard. We all ride roller coasters. Some days it's easy to jump up and try to do something inspirational, even though you know it might piss someone off in the next day. You're hiding because you're afraid someone's gonna harm you in a family lawsuit. You just never know. Oh, you guys, social media. It is a conundrum. But out of all of it, I don't care if you guys get in trouble for doing something inspirational. Be nice to each other. Be kind, be good people. That's the main thing. That's what I really care about. So with that, that's all we have today. A little more social media chatter. Want you guys to keep choosing the hard right over easy Silence. Please go visit me babble dot com. Check out the show notes. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram all that fun stuff. I just I need you guys. I need your support. I really appreciate it. Leave me a review and I'm doing all this. Uh, cash is all just a passion project. If you guys wanted to contribute and help me make the production of this happen and her brother had happened, there's a place on the show notes where you can contribute and be a part of that and really appreciate it. And with that, you guys don't forget to lead with fire. Fearlessness, integrity, resilience and empathy. Empathy being the big one. Take care.