“CBP NATION”- A MANAGEMENT FACEBOOK PAGE
Some managers in a Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Patrol Texas port set up a Facebook page allegedly as “an outreach program for suicide prevention and awareness” for current and former employees. It had about 11,000 subscribers. The ranking manager testified before EEOC that the information shared on the page was to be work-related, e.g. about job swaps, accolades, achievements, deaths, and port of entry stories. He also affirmed under oath that he and three other agency employees monitored the site for any derogatory, inflammatory, and/or offensive posts. When found, they were deleted and the writer blocked. Well, apparently those monitors did not do the deletion part of their job well because a female CBP Officer filed an EEO charge, and EEOC found the CBP Nation Facebook page images and other material that were sexists and otherwise objectively offensive to women. You can guess the rest. EEOC ordered the agency to figure out how much to pay this female employee in compensatory damages and attorney fees, and to discipline the involved managers unless it had a good reason. If you want to read more about the case, check out Elenor S. v. Chad F. Wolf, Act’g Sec., DHS (CBP), EEOC Appeal No. 2019005538 (2020)