County Contends Fired Battalion Chief ‘Served as a Model of Insubordination’

By Andrew Metcalf

The county has responded to a fire department officer's wrongful termination suit, claiming the officer's Facebook posts about "beating a liberal with another liberal" were insubordinate and against policy.

In a 28-page response filed in U.S. District Court on Nov. 12, the county argues the battalion chief’s posts were insubordinate, an expression of personal opinion, and a violation of county policy. 

The county argued that the complaint should be dismissed, stating that Buker  “served as a model of insubordination by patently criticizing the Fire Department’s social media policy.” (Emphasis theirs)

The county argued that Buker’s liking of another firefighter's Facebook post featuring a woman holding up her middle finger, with the caption, “for you Chief,” amounted to a “virtual insurrection.”

The county stated that Buker’s posts reflect “nothing more than a ‘matter of personal interest’” and that no First Amendment rights were violated.

The response noted that Buker alleges his posts were about gun control legislation, but he never specifically mentions shooting or guns in his posts.

In the first post, on Jan. 20, Buker wrote, “Let’s kill someone with a liberal … then maybe we can get them outlawed too! The satisfaction of beating a liberal with another liberal … its almost poetic….” 

Buker then liked a comment on his post from a volunteer firefighter stating, “But ... was it an '[assault] liberal'? Gotta pick a fat one, those are the 'high capacity' ones. Oh pick a black one, those are more 'scary.' Sorry had to perfect on a [sic] cool idea!"

Buker was working a 24-hour shift at the time of the post, according to court documents.

Buker removed the post on Jan. 23 and posted, “To prevent future ‘butthurt’ and comply with a directive from my supervisor, a recent post (meant entirely in jest) has been deleted…” 

Buker was asked the day before by his supervisor to remove the post.

On Feb. 17, he "liked" the middle finger picture and was fired about a month later. The county cited its code of conduct and social media policy as the reasons for termination. 

Buker’s lawyers argued that his personal Facebook posts had no effect on employee morale or efficiency at the fire department, but the county stated that criteria does not have to be met for it to take action.

“If a Battalion Chief follows policies inconsistently, firefighters could determine that departmental policies are simply recommendations and arbitrarily choose which ones to follow,” wrote the county in its response.

According to the fire department’s policy, which was issued in Nov. 2012, the department reserves the right to monitor social media sites, including information not publicly available.

It also says, “We are all obligated to maintain a high level of professionalism and decorum and to refrain from conduct that is contrary to the mission of the department, even while off-duty.”

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