Custodian loses cell phone fired after bosses find the phone and see racist message

[The Straight Story]

Oy

PITTSBURGH (CN) - A school custodian who lost her cell phone at work says she was fired under threat of being publicly branded a racist after her bosses illegally searched her phone and found a text message she wrote that said, "I'm in niggerville doing nigger work."

Diane Coglio sued the Penn Hills School District, its school board, superintendent and business director on constitutional grounds, in Federal Court.

Coglio claims the text message on the personal phone she lost inside Penn Hills High School was "entirely private" and had been sent only to her sister-in-law. She says that no one working for the school district was meant to see the message, and that another allegedly racist message on her phone actually pointed out "the fact that certain PHSD employees were being permitted to flout their responsibilities and receive pay for work that they had not performed."

Coglio claims the school district business director, Richard Liberto, told her that "if she did not resign and go away quietly, she would be branded a racist."

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/11/17/41535.htm

[Enrique]

1. she's suing to get her nigger job back?

she must have really liked that nigger work.

That said, bosses going through employees' phones?

[MountainLaurel]

2. The phone was lost

Probably someone found it, turned it in to the main office, and the principal was looking through it to find out who owned it.

Interestingly enough, there was a similar story from my hometown about a guy who left his phone in a bar. When someone was trying to find out who it belonged to, they found child porn.

[The Straight Story]

3. Do you live near Penn State?

:rofl:

[JVS]

4. When you find a lost cell phone, it isn't that strange to poke around trying to figure out whose...

it is.

I found a phone a few months ago and just went to most called numbers. Ended up speaking to the owner's husband. They were very grateful that I had made a point of contacting them and letting them know where to retrieve the phone.

[MineralMan]

5. Password protect your phone. It is that simple. Of course, if

you lose it nobody will be able to find you so you can get it back, but your racist bullshit won't become public, either. :shrug:

[SheilaT]

6. She's entitled to be a racist idiot, but everyone needs

to understand that there's essentially no privacy for anyone any more.

And yes, it is not uncommon to poke around a found cell phone to figure out who it belongs to. Although I think just look at the address list and calling a couple of people on it would work. Or, simply using it to call your own phone and seeing what pops up on caller ID.

I once found a cell phone on the sidewalk in front of my house, and I simply brought it to the cell phone service provider and let them deal with it.