Woman Loses Job Because of Kerry Sticker

please americans, tell me this cockfarmer of a boss did something that is really actually illegal?

I don't have much to say about this except that there are parts of my home state that aren't so bad, even though stories like this remind me of why I used to always say the only thing to do in Alabama was try to escape.

you took the words out of my mouth.

There just seems to be a pervading mood in the country that says "dissent is unpatriotic"

yeah, this really bothers me. my mom teaches in a small town in michigan, and people have really been giving her crap about not voting for bush. and that's without any stickers or badges or anything. she got so pissed off about it that she joined the local dems and started going door to door and making calls. i just wish that more people would get pissed and actually do something about it, rather than just go along with the mob mentality.

xpost

Oh I agree, she should sue the bastard, and more than likely will win. I just would prefer that this thread not devolve into Alabama-bashing because I do think this could happen anywhere.

hot chocolate nearly out my nose, there.

I wouldn't assume that she can win under wrongful termination as many states in the Confederacy strongly favor the employer with regards to employment "rights". If she were in California she would already have a bevy of attorneys lined up by now, but down here my guess is that she probably is fucked. Even if she sued and won wrongful termination, my prediction is that her best case scenario is that a) she'd get her job back + any back wages owed and b) perhaps some extra compensation though nothing significant. Certainly nothing in the Fuck You Money range.

Right to work states have unions, and Alabama is one of them.

Seems like she ought to be able to have one of the guy's legs cut off or something.

not exactly, I think the only thing she could be able to sue for would be wrongful termination, since, y'know, the dude didn't like take the sticker off, or something. But I'm not a lawyer. Anyway, even if she wouldn't necessarily win (though I think she might), she might be able to wring a settlement outta the jerk (though as Don stated that might not be in the Fuck You Money range).

And the greater point is whether or not it would be worth it. No jury down here is going to award her millions of dollars for this--worse, she might be under the auspice of mediation or arbitration arranged by her employer. She could sue for wrongful termination but it's not like it's going to be gender or racial-based (two things that are explicitly protected assuming the company is large enough) so she'll likely win her job back and little else. People don't generally like to go back to a place where they've been fired, especially if they are forcing the employer to re-hire them.

And it wouldn't have to be a jury trial. And wouldn't it be a federal court, not a state court? (For the free speech case, not the wrongful termination case.)

Note to self : Never move to the USA.

My real beef, of course, isn't with people like Scott's neighbours. But living in a state where employers have the right to fire you because of the way you think? No thanks.

.. not exactly the same, but there is precedent for awarding extra damages.

(I am NEVER living in a country where I can legally be fired at any time for any reason, and where I can legally quit a job without notice)

the left column applies nationwide and lists protected classes. these apply to the factory as long as there's more than 15 people working there. political opinion isn't a protected class (neither is sexual orientation, nationwide).

i'm sure there's better lists, but i'm doing work as well, and it's the first one i found that was ok.

WHERE IS A SPIN DOCTOR TO POINT OUT THAT BANKRUPTCY LAWYERS DO GREAT UNDER BUSH?

again, this is not a free speech issue. nobody can stop her from putting a kerry bumper sticker on her car. but her boss can fire her for doing it if he wants to.

If he wants to whack a samizdat into his employees' paycheques he has to respect their rights to express politics too. It doesn't matter if he's the owner.

i agree that he should, but he doesn't have to, at least not according the employment laws of the united states and alabama.

Generally one pay period's notice (usually a month in the UK) is the done thing.

No it doesn't. In many locales you can fire someone strictly because they are gay, no matter what their job performance is.

He can fire her for no reason, but if he gives a reason, it can't violate her rights.

Her rights are only determined by relevant local laws or, if the company qualifies, by various aspects of the Civil Rights Act, which only covers protected classes.

Free Speech is not a protected right in a private workplace.

Your employer (in the private sector) can prevent you from speaking freely.

Your employer can fire your ass for working on the Kerry campaign during off hours and in some states, your recourse will be nil.

While there are many cases where employers were successfully sued for firing an employee for something they said, there are tons where employers won. It's no slam dunk.

Only if she could validate him as a religion, which, while I get your point, is a large stretch.

there's a weird non-technical shift that puts the burden of proof on the employer, to demonstrate some sort of just cause for the termination

Not necessarily. As I have mentioned, you can fire someone for being gay in most places. Does that fit your description of "just cause"?

You can fire somebody for a lot of really (what I would call) bizarre reasons and never fear a lawsuit. It happens all the time.

(Although, there is a burden of proof that falls on the employer in discrimination cases of adverse impact.)

if she followed up on this and brought suit, she'd find some success; the only thing is that that optimism is sort of tempered by a little bit of pessimism about the Alabama juidiciary and her chances of successfully filing suit in the first place.

Which is why I think this whole thing is a long shot--not Alabama's judiciary, but its relevant code, and the fact that the actual damages would be so comparatively little that it wouldn't be worth getting her job back over.

This is the funniest thing I read all day

i'm pretty sure i've told the story of how my 'veteran for kerry' bumpersticker gets me heat from both sides round here

I like the small, classy crossed-out-"W" stickers.

There should now be a thread titled 'he's gonna be a one-term president, isn't he?'

WWW.PHILLYBURBS.COM

LOWER MAKEFIELD
Resident says confusion cost her tickets to Republican rally
By MATT COUGHLIN

COURIER TIMES

A Lower Makefleld woman said she received a rude awakening Wednesday
when she tried to get tickets to see President Bush today in Lower Makefleld.
Simi Nischal got a ride with a co-worker to pick up tickets for herself, her husband, Narinder, and their two children. But just as the tickets were about to be placed in her hands, she was escorted from the Yardley gristmill and told to leave, she said.
" 'I deny you the right to attend this rally,' " Nischal
said a Bush-Cheney campaign worker told her.
Apparently, Nischal's ride was a Kerry-Edwards supporter. Her car sported a bumper sticker for the Democratic candidates.
Nischal, a computer programmer who is originally from India, said her children wanted to see the president.
The family had talked over dinner Tuesday night about attending today's campaign rally at the Broadmeadows Farm in Lower Makefleld.
About lunchtime Wednesday. Nischal's coworker dropped her off at the gristmill to pick up free tickets. When the co-worker returned, rally organizers for Bush and Vice President Cheney apparently noticed the Kerry-Edwards sticker stuck on the car. Nischal said. The organizers asked the co-worker why she was there and she responded, "to pick up Simi." While this was going on, Nischal was in the ticket office fmishing paperwork and showing her identification for her tickets.
"The lady came in and said, 'Who's Simi?' " Nischal tearfully recalled Wednesday night, adding that she identified herself and was then
refused tickets to the rally and escorted from the building.
Shortly after that, a man wearing a Bush-Cheney T-shirt confronted Nischal in the parking lot and told her to leave.
"He was so rude, he made me feel like a criminal," Nischal said. "I said, That's not fair, you are losing a supporter.' [And he said], 'We don't care about your support.' "
Nischal said onlookers cheered and laughed at her as she left the property; But that wasn't the end of the insult, she said.
She said another co-worker took her back to the gristmill to try to clear up the confusion, but she was again refused tickets.
Multiple calls to Bucks County Republican Party headquarters, several party members and the Broadmeadows Farm were not answered. However, rally organizer Hank Miller said he could not comment on the incident because he was not there and had not heard of it.
Nischal said her daughter has been learning about the political process at school and has been a Bush supporter. She even picked up
papers for her daughter to volunteer for the Bush campaign right before she was kicked out of the gristmill, she said.
Nischal said she and her husband had not voted in previous elections, but the couple wanted to set a good example for their daughter by voting this year.
"I was undecided, but we have changed our opinion," .
Nischal said. "You don't treat people that way"
The first thing her son asked when he got home from school Wednesday
afternoon was if they would get to see the president.
Nischal said her son did not understand what happened.
But she said her daughter said she wasn't going to support Bush anymore.

Matt Coughlan can be reached at 215-949-4172

Wow.