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RandalFlagg
Stranger
Registered: 06/15/02
Posts: 15,608
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Off-duty behavior can affect job
#4291139 - 06/13/05 12:21 PM (18 years, 11 months ago) |
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Wow...how fucked up is this?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050613/tc_usatoday/offdutybehaviorcanaffectjob
Off-duty behavior can affect job
By Stephanie Armour and Julie Appleby, USA TODAY
Mon Jun 13, 6:56 AM ET
Some companies are cracking down on employees' off-duty behavior, raising questions about how far employers should go in policing what workers do on their own time.
Employees are being disciplined or fired for such behaviors as drinking on their own time, using competitors' products and displaying political bumper stickers. No one tracks the number of such cases, but some workers rights' groups are concerned that the practice is on the upswing.
"The shock is that there's no legal protection," says Lewis Maltby, of The National Workrights Institute, a non-profit based in Princeton, N.J., that focuses on employee rights. "You can get fired just for having a bumper sticker the boss doesn't like."
For example:
? At the Atlantic City, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, bartenders and waitresses can be fired if they gain more than 7% of their body weight. They are first given a 90-day unpaid suspension to lose the weight. Officials say it is a recent clarification to the company's appearance policy.
About 200 cocktail servers and bartenders, known as "Borgata Babes," are covered by the policy, and have to submit to weigh-ins. Weight gain for valid medical reasons, such as pregnancy, are exempt, but the waitresses have 90 days to comply with the target weight upon return.
"We believe the policy in place is not only legal and non-discriminatory, it is also fair," spokesman Michael Facenda said in a statement.
? Lynne Gobbell was fired from her job packing insulation by her Moulton, Ala.-based employer for displaying a John Kerry bumper sticker on her car, according to the Associated Press and numerous media reports. Gobbell could not be reached for comment.
? Ross Hopkins, who worked for a Budweiser distributor, sued after he says he was fired for drinking a Coors at a Greeley, Colo., bar after work.
But Jeff Bedingfield, attorney for American Eagle Distributing, says Hopkins was fired in 2003 for making disparaging comments about the company while at the bar wearing a company uniform. The case is expected to go to trial.
While about half the states have laws preventing employers from firing workers who smoke off duty, questions remain about other legal, off-duty activities. Some states have passed broader protections, says Kary Moss, executive director of the ACLU in Michigan.
"It's a growing trend," Moss says. "But whether or not they will go further to protect workers is an open question."
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Arp
roving mycophagist


Registered: 04/20/98
Posts: 2,191
Loc: in a van by the river
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Re: Off-duty behavior can affect job [Re: RandalFlagg]
#4291147 - 06/13/05 12:26 PM (18 years, 11 months ago) |
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Scary stuff. As the blood/urine-tests some employers are doing. I hope mine never will
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WanderingStudent
terminal learner

Registered: 06/02/05
Posts: 78
Last seen: 18 years, 7 months
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Re: Off-duty behavior can affect job [Re: Arp]
#4291277 - 06/13/05 01:11 PM (18 years, 11 months ago) |
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Nice to know that employers feel they have that right to lord such things over people. If they have an attitude like that, they might as well have questionnaires asking the political, religious, and economical opinion of the employee, and be done with it. Up until now, most businesses had the decency to try and cook up bogus reasons to cover for their intolerance. We live in a brave, new wolrd.
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Redstorm
Prince of Bugs



Registered: 10/08/02
Posts: 44,175
Last seen: 6 months, 28 days
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Re: Off-duty behavior can affect job [Re: RandalFlagg]
#4291292 - 06/13/05 01:13 PM (18 years, 11 months ago) |
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Though I don't agree with it, private employers can pretty much fire people for anything, as long as it is not discriminatory in nature.
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snoopaloop53
No BetterFriend. NoWorse Friend.

Registered: 01/20/05
Posts: 311
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
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Re: Off-duty behavior can affect job [Re: Redstorm]
#4292479 - 06/13/05 05:45 PM (18 years, 11 months ago) |
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Let them discriminate if they want. If you don't like their practices then don't buy their product. Everytime they choose who to hire they are discriminating. They look at a candidate and say "holy shit how did this guy manage to tie his shoes, i don't want him working for me." That's discriminating against stupid people.
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RandalFlagg
Stranger
Registered: 06/15/02
Posts: 15,608
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Re: Off-duty behavior can affect job [Re: Redstorm]
#4292545 - 06/13/05 06:03 PM (18 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Redstorm said: Though I don't agree with it, private employers can pretty much fire people for anything, as long as it is not discriminatory in nature.
I agree with that basic premise. I think employers should be able to hire or get rid of anybody that they want to pretty much....but those examples seem kind of fucked up and ridiculous to me.
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Redstorm
Prince of Bugs



Registered: 10/08/02
Posts: 44,175
Last seen: 6 months, 28 days
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Re: Off-duty behavior can affect job [Re: RandalFlagg]
#4292553 - 06/13/05 06:05 PM (18 years, 11 months ago) |
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I agree that it's ridiculous. If we got rid their ability to fire those people, though, we'd be on the slippery slope and then god knows who they could fire eventually.
Edited by Redstorm (06/13/05 07:25 PM)
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snoopaloop53
No BetterFriend. NoWorse Friend.

Registered: 01/20/05
Posts: 311
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
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Re: Off-duty behavior can affect job [Re: RandalFlagg]
#4292583 - 06/13/05 06:14 PM (18 years, 11 months ago) |
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In the waitress example it is the Casino's perogative if they hire hotties or fatties. Are you going to the tittie bar or Hooters to look and some sweaty fat chick? I'm not. If she doesn't want to control her wait then find another job.
The lady getting fired for a bumber sticker, well if someone doesn't want a particular political ideology working for them well then oh well. Kinda dumb since you have smart hard working people of all view points. Still it is the private employers right to choose what kind of people and represent them.
The Bud guy, well it's a big case of he said-she said. But if he was making disparaging comments while in work clothes about his employer show him the door.
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