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[Screaming_Gremlin]

LOL, this thread is a classic. I'm not sure how anyone could believe this was in any way right or ok to fire someone for this reason. Yet people actualyl argue that it's legal. Man I'll never understand the US.

No one is saying that it is good thing. Personally I think that except if her views became a distraction in the workplace, it was a stupid reason to fire someone. That being said it is legal assuming that you live in an at-will state, since party affiliation is not a protected class.

 

[darscot]

I'm Canadian so I don't know what's legal or not. But it sure make you wonder. America constantly raving about freedom and democracy but then this. It so hypocrytical its not funny. Basically a company can fire anyone they think will not vote the way they want and that's not election fixing... please!

 

[bishoptl]

Remember Bush eats babies and grinds up black people into a delightful paste and sells it as "Soylent Brown"

:lol :lol

 

[Screaming_Gremlin]

I'm Canadian so I don't know what's legal or not. But it sure make you wonder. America constantly raving about freedom and democracy but then this. It so hypocrytical its not funny. Basically a company can fire anyone they thing will not vote the way they want and that's not election fixing... please!

Well that is the thing, the Constitution protects our rights from the government, not other private citizens. There are other laws to protect against certain types of discrimination (race, nationality, religion, and sex except in certain instances) in the workplace. An 'at-will' employee has the freedom to quit working for any reason and an employer has the freedom to fire an employee for any reason (except for reasons stated above).

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

If my employees do not project the image I want for my business, they're fired. End of story. Sorry, sensative people. Suck it up and move on.

Would you be mad if they banned all the conservatives from this board?

 

[Celicar]

Would you be mad if they banned all the conservatives from this board?

are all the admins here liberals? uh oh!

 

[explodet]

Ban the liberals, ban the conservatives!

The Canadians can stay, though.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

are all the admins here liberals? uh oh!

That's not the point. She was removed for her political beliefs and he's saying 'Suck it up.' How about we ban the 2 party supporters on alternating weeks?

 

[CaptainStrong]

First of all, thank god Phoenix can actually bring some valid points to this discussion. Now, for those of you bashing conservatives or republicans for this, thats really weak. Just because one "republican" was indeed being a dick doesnt give you the right to assume everyone else is insane like that. There are just as many left wing wackos out there who want to sell out our country to the UN, ban all guns, and then have the govt wipe their ass for them. I like to think you're not all like that.

Anyway, not to get too off topic but for those of you who passionately hate republicans and plan on voting for Kerry I am seriously asking, what does he stand for? What exactly is his economic plan? How does he plan to balance the budget? How will he protect us from terrorists? Don't worry, I'm fully aware he served in Vietnam and got 3 purple hearts.....

 

[bishoptl]

There are other political threads you can go jump in if you want to discuss the reasons to vote for or against Kerry. Feel free to take your questions there.

This thread is about some right wing asshole who had no problem with pushing his political beliefs in his employees' paycheques, but fired an employee who had the temerity to place a pro-Kerry sticker on her car.

 

[Dilbert]

First of all, thank god Phoenix can actually bring some valid points to this discussion. Now, for those of you bashing conservatives or republicans for this, thats really weak. Just because one "republican" was indeed being a dick doesnt give you the right to assume everyone else is insane like that. There are just as many left wing wackos out there who want to sell out our country to the UN, ban all guns, and then have the govt wipe their ass for them. I like to think you're not all like that.

Anyway, not to get too off topic but for those of you who passionately hate republicans and plan on voting for Kerry I am seriously asking, what does he stand for? What exactly is his economic plan? How does he plan to balance the budget? How will he protect us from terrorists? Don't worry, I'm fully aware he served in Vietnam and got 3 purple hearts.....

First, go find an article where someone gets fired from their job for having a Bush/Cheney 2004 bumper sticker on their car, and then we'll talk. Also, find out if they're hiring.

Second, your second comment is COMPLETELY off-topic, and completely troll bait. It's a well-known fact (and has been mentioned in several GAF threads) that Kerry's plans are available on his website -- go read them. You'll be happy to learn that his Purple Hearts are not a key ingredient to ANY of his plans.

Edit: Bish beat me to it...

 

[Nerevar]

Anyway, not to get too off topic but for those of you who passionately hate republicans and plan on voting for Kerry I am seriously asking, what does he stand for? What exactly is his economic plan? How does he plan to balance the budget? How will he protect us from terrorists? Don't worry, I'm fully aware he served in Vietnam and got 3 purple hearts.....

Typical idiotic Republican question ...

Click here to compare the candidates on major issues

Just because you can't be bothered to take the time and focus on the issues doesn't mean that they both haven't clearly made their positions known on all the major issues. Don't understand what Kerry's economic stance is? Click "economy." All this and you don't even have to visit Kerry's official site and be tainted by liberalism. Imagine that.

 

[xsarien]

I think the quote goes "However, even "at will" employees are entitled to certain legal protections against wrongful termination, and cannot be fired for reasons that violate the law or public policy."

Further it says "Within this context, it should be noted that employers of at-will employees may end their employment for reasons that are arbitrary, provided they don't run afoul of the law"

Which article were you reading?

The part that says "provided they don't run afoul of the law." I was, really, merely pointing out that the issue wasn't nearly as black and white as you were making it appear.

 

[videogamer]

What a sucky place to work for. Politics and religion shouldn't be discussed at work anyways for the sake of minimizing conflict.

 

[xsarien]

What a sucky place to work for. Politics and religion shouldn't be discussed at work anyways for the sake of minimizing conflict.

Well, as far as playground law is concerned, the boss started it.

 

[BobbyRobby]

By having that woman's car parked in his lot, he may be endorsing Kerry. And if Kerry were to get elected, he believes that his business would be hurt. He's not telling the woman who to vote for. He is asking her to take a sticker off of her car.

I got kicked out of the mall for wearing a costume once. I wasn't causing any sort of ruckuss at the time. I thought it was lame, but its totally their right to have kicked me out since it is private property. If I want to utitlize the services a mall offers, then I have to comply with their rules. If I don't, then I won't go to the mall. And if I'm really outraged, I'll rally people together to boycott the mall until they change their policy. That's how it should work. I sure as hell shouldn't sue the mall and take away their freedom.

If its a private business, the employer has freedom to run his business the way he wants it. The constitution doesn't only give us freedom to do nice things.

 

[Discharger]

I'm not expert on the matter, but providing the company had any sort of legal help at all when they were writing up the agreement you need to sign when you get employed, I'm sure that somewhere in it, there is a clause written for being able to terminate someone's employment in the case of them doing something that disagrees with your companies policies. Hell, for all we know the company has a policy stating that you are not allowed to show any political affiliation of any sort while at work. If it's in the employment agreement and she signed it, she's screwed. If it isn't, and it's just a dumbass who thinks he can get away with anything did this because he thought he'd be home free, that's a different story.

For the record, if the reason he fired her is just because he's a Bush supporter and hates Kerry, this is wrong on many levels and I don't agree in any way. However, if the business has a policy on their workplace agreement that can apply in any way, she's going to be screwed and should have been more careful.

 

[xsarien]

By having that woman's car parked in his lot, he may be endorsing Kerry. And if Kerry were to get elected, he believes that his business would be hurt. He's not telling the woman who to vote for. He is asking her to take a sticker off of her car.

I got kicked out of the mall for wearing a costume once. I wasn't causing any sort of ruckuss at the time. I thought it was lame, but its totally their right to have kicked me out since it is private property. If I want to utitlize the services a mall offers, then I have to comply with their rules. If I don't, then I won't go to the mall. And if I'm really outraged, I'll rally people together to boycott the mall until they change their policy. That's how it should work. I sure as hell shouldn't sue the mall and take away their freedom.

If its a private business, the employer has freedom to run his business the way he wants it. The constitution doesn't only give us freedom to do nice things.

This argument stinks on a few layers:

1) The woman didn't run afoul of anything other than her superior's politics. Read the article, he inserted letters in their paychecks endorsing Bush. By doing so, he opened the door for (presumably free) political expression in his business. Furthermore, made no mention that if you speak up against Bush, you'd be fired.

2) Assuming for a moment that she wasn't an at-will employee, because the article doesn't mention it at all, and I highly doubt she would've even initally sought a lawyer if she was, it is ripe grounds for wrongful termination. It was a factory, not a right-wing think tank; their business has nothing to do with politics, who she wants to vote for has no bearing on her work. Choosing to fire her on those grounds alone is arguably criminal.

The guy running the place does have the freedom to run it as he pleases, but within the bounds of the law.