A member of the Gainesville Fire Department has been suspended for one week without pay because of a social media post about some of the demonstrators who protested the killing of George Floyd of Minneapolis.
City Manager Bryan Lackey said an investigation revealed that the employee's spouse had actually written the post on Facebook. Both told investigators they were not together when the post was written, and the employee was not aware of it until the next day when a co-worked asked him about it.
But Lackey said even though the spouse wrote the post, employees are still responsible for any social media posts made from account associated with their names.
In addition to the suspension, the employee was advised to no longer have any joint social media accounts.
City officials were notified about the post on May 31, the morning after a protest in downtown Gainesville in the aftermath of Floyd's death. The post was in reference to the citizenship status of some of the demonstrators. The post was deleted.
