On Wednesday February 26, 2014, Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal overturned an $80,000 settlement for age discrimination because the plaintiff/employee breached the confidentiality agreement.
In 2010, Patrick Snay’s contract as headmaster at Miami’s Gulliver Preparatory School was not renewed. Patrick alleged he had been discriminated against based on his age and also alleged that the school retaliated against his daughter Dana, who was a pupil at the school. At the end of 2011, Patrick won a settlement of $80,000 from the school. One of the conditions of the settlement was that everything had to be kept confidential. Patrick told Dana about the settlement. Dana proceeded to post a status on Facebook stating, “Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT.” The school’s lawyers were quickly informed of Dana’s status since some of her Facebook friends were also Gulliver students. After the school refused to pay the settlement, the case went back to court and Florida’s appellate court ruled in favor of the school.
Posts on social media are not private and can be used against you during and after the lawsuit. Confidentiality agreements are common when settling employment claims and must be followed. Patrick Snay and presumably his daughter learned this the hard way.