Facebook yoga teacher fired for stern look

• Tweet

MENLO PARK, Calif., July 11 (UPI) -- A California yoga teacher said she was fired from teaching employees at Facebook's headquarters for trying to restrict cellphone use during class.

Alice Van Ness, 35, of San Carlos said she was hired a few months ago to teach yoga to workers at Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters and she was fired in June after giving a female worker a "look of disapproval" for typing on her phone during class, the Palo Alto Daily News reported Wednesday.

"I understand it's a busy world we live in and you've got to pack it in, but it's beneficial to your whole system to let it go for an hour," Van Ness said. "An hour isn't too much to ask."

Van Ness said she was called into a meeting with her supervisor at Plus One Health Management, the contractor Facebook uses for its onsite gym and fitness programs, two weeks after the cellphone incident.

"They sent me packing, they didn't even want to hear my side of the story," Van Ness said. "They already had my paycheck ready."

The termination letter said the employee complained Van Ness has "made a spectacle of her" during the class.

A Facebook spokesman said the company has nothing to say on the matter since Van Ness was not a Facebook employee.

A Plus One Health Management representative declined to comment.