Off-duty behavior can affect job

[question everything]

Yahoo! News

Off-duty behavior can affect job

By Stephanie Armour and Julie Appleby, USA TODAYMon 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.

(snip)


• 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.

(snip)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050613/tc_usatoday/offdutybehaviorcanaffectjob

[Bill McBlueState]

1. workers' rights?

Come on, that's so 1950's. :sarcasm:

Remember Wal-Mart is Lord of Us All because they allegedly offer the best prices. Who cares how companies treat their workers?

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Speaking of WalMart,

what do their workers do in their off time - look for affordable health care? Spend their food stamps?

[PA Democrat]

29. Probably head off to their second and third jobs.

It's "uniquely American" as Bush would say.

[losdiablosgato]

8. There is a reason they call it the Human Resources Dept.

Because that is all we are to them. A resource to be exploited and thrown away.

[MountainLaurel]

21. Ding, ding, ding

You've hit the nail on the head. We're no farther along toward civilization than we were 100 years ago when the owner of a mule killed in a coal mine got $25 for the death and the widow of a man killed got $10.

[malmapus]

2. OMG, lol I will NEVER use my companies services I can tell you that

they suck heh

[Lerkfish]

3. yeah, I'll bet we never see the opposite.

no bush bumper stickers morans will get fired.

[jus_the_facts]

4. SLAVES to the MAN.....

....even OFF work...sigh. :nopity:

[lavenderdiva]

5. I wonder if any of Ms. Gobbell's co-workers, who displayed 'W' stickers

on their cars were also fired?

:sarcasm:

[question everything]

25. Or, I wonder whether the company has its own parking lot

I suppose a company can say that this is its property, just as it can determine how its phones and computers be used. But, for example, I worked in an office park where the parking spots were common - more or less.

Still, this should come under freedom of speech and I don't think that a private company rule can supersede the country's?

Last fall I had to pick my spouse from work, where the owner is an evangelist, still carries a W on his car. Spouse just did not want to give anyone an opening, so I had to park a block away, with my Kerry Edwards sticker..

[slamthecrank]

53. Right!

My father is the HR director at a crippling textile mill in the south. For some reason or another, he and his cronies at the 'executive office' support GWB (even after me and my siblings showed him how GWB was DETRIMENTAL to his job security - the shut down 4 mills just last year due to outsourcing).

He has a "W" sticker on his gigantic SUV, as does his boss and the CEO. However, they are "taped on" and they (supposedly) remove them when they come into the parking lot, or onto any company land. This is the line they're selling, anyway...as they reported in their October newsletter last year that "any political stickers on cars will result in the vehicle being towed off company property."

As you may have guessed, I occasionally stop into my dad's office when I'm in town, and I have NEVER seen their vehicles *without* the "W" sticker. However, I do know of a few cases where the "Kerry/Edwards" stickers were given a tow-job...it was printed in their November newsletter.

The company even put a slip of paper in each employee's check envelope stating that they should vote for George W. Bush "if they like their jobs in America"...and proceeded to list 3 (wow! three!!!) things that he had done specifically to "help the American Industry". All of which were bogus chain-email fodder.

This isn't rare - and it's what I was screaming about during the election. These repugs are at a point where they don't care if they break rules, because the rules will be bent around them. We gotta band together and get loud. I mean real loud. This isn't the America that my grandfather brought my family here for. If he were alive today, he'd be shipping us back to Germany.

[LiberalFighter]

57. You could had donated a few Kerry stickers to their cars

[question everything]

64. ACLU should take a case and make an example of it

[eyesroll]

6. That's (mostly) illegal in WI

Off-duty use of lawful products is considered a protected activity (unless abstaining from said activity is a real occupational qualification -- i.e. if you're working as an anti-smoking educator for the American Lung Association, they can require you to be a non-smoker).

But, since WI is an at-will employment state, they can fire you for just about any other reason, and it's up to you to prove discrimination.

[FreedomSpirit]

68. At Will Employment

I thought all employers in any of the 50 Union states were At Will unless you have an ironclad union agreement at the workplace to protect you.

[Warpy]

9. My cousin has been instructed to make sure her car is washed

on the weekend if she wants to park it in the company lot. Only cars under 5 years old are allowed into the lot.

This is nuts.

Why the FUCK should those assholes have a say in any of this? We are selling them our time to do the stuff that they have decided they're too important to do.

That's all we need to sell them. If they intrude into any other area of our lives, they've gone too far. Can we say UNION, everyone?

That's the only thing that has ever stopped these assholes from abusing workers.

[MindPilot]

17. I would assume your cousin's employer adds an allowance

to the paycheck to cover the cost of owning a less-than-five-year-old-car?

What if you were to drive a immaculately restored 66 Mustang or a cherry '62 Corvette? Do they make exceptions? How about if it rains Sunday night? Are you allowed to stay home Monday to wash your car?

just askin'...

[question everything]

27. Is she working for a car manufacturer

I guess neither of us would be able to work there, with our 1993 Volvo and 1998 Toyota

[KansDem]

38. WHAT!!! I drive a 40-year-old car. Where the hell am I suppose to park?

I drive a 1965 Chevrolet. I can't imagine being told I couldn't park in certain places because it wasn't less than 5 years old. I bet some of the execs making this kind of policy weren't even yet born when my car was made...



Mine looks alot like this one, only with more rust. A LOT more rust...

[FreedomSpirit]

69. Car discrimination

I once applied for a job at a GM plant that makes SUV parts. I was asked what kind of car I drove & at the time I had a gas sipping Hyundai (still do -- this occurred when gas was still under $1 per gallon). I was told that I had to park in the back lot & walk 1/4 mile to the main building for an interview because only AMERICAN cars, preferably GM vehicles, would be allowed in the closer parking lots. Guess where I decided not to work (fortunately I had other options at the time).

[On the Road]

10. This Was Common in the Gilded Age

Employees of small firms often stayed at their employer's homes and were closely monitored for all kinds of things.

[Protagoras]

11. This quickly begins to sound like slavery or serfdom not a job

which of course is their goal.

We need to be disposable commodities, bought and sold...just like a wrench or a garbage bag.

We're here to contribute to the corporation...nothing more...and certainly nothing less.

Welcome to Bushworld.

[slay]

35. I'm glad somebody else can see it!

The actions of the Bush administration do indeed lead me to believe that they are setting up a corporate state where Christian commerce is the only reason to live. Wave goodbye to freedom, individuality, and anything else that doesn't turn a profit.

[Freddie Stubbs]

41. Except that slaves and serfs couldn't quit

[Joacheme Misrahe]

45. Can you quit? Really?

If you're living on wal-mart wages chances are you're only one pay check away from being on the street. Such a person is likely to be making similar wages anywhere else. In other words they have no option to quit, and wal-mart et al know it. Which is why they can abuse the employees and get away with it. No one is willing to risk losing a job if they try to form a union or otherwise stand up for themselves when they are kept one pay check away from the street.

[Freddie Stubbs]

48. That is why some people find other jobs and quit

There are two types of people in the world. Those who simply go through life using the script that is given to them and those who act procatively to change their lives. I've tried to both ways, and can tell you that the latter is much better.

[Zhade]

55. Right, the old "if you can't find a job, retrain" b*s* bullshit.

I love your compassion.

:sarcasm:

[question everything]

65. You can do it when you are young and without a family to support

but at some point, as you pass 40 and 50 you are just too tired to start from the beginning and your chances of being hired and given a chance, even at entry level are getting slim. Plus, if you have to support a family you cannot just sell the house and move and shacking someplace for a while. Even more so if there are medical problems and you are dependent on the health insurance provided by your employer and there are way too many sad stories like that, even reported here.

[central scrutinizer]

12. Nothing new here, if you are a teacher

Public school teachers, especially in small communities, are on the job 24 hours a day. Buy more than one bottle of wine a week? You must be an alcoholic. Have a strange car parked at your house and you're unmarried (they know, have no fear) then you must be shacking up. Still, not married? Must be gay. Hmm, what is in that package? Hmm, it is after 11 on a school night and you're not home? Hey, it is late Sunday morning and you haven't gone to church yet? Why not? Hmm? Hmm?

[question everything]

28. Yeah, but this may be simple nosy

but can they actually lose their jobs for this?

[iamjoy]

49. It Happened Here In Central Florida

last year, a teacher was removed from the classroom after baring her breasts at a private party. She just got a little carried away, but some one snapped a picture and forwarded it to the school principal.

http://www.wftv.com/education/2927087/detail.html

[Rich Hunt]

74. creepy

The teacher's right - someone must have been spying on her and the private web page already.

So basically, the school district is enabling the person who had it in for her.

My god, how appalling that this should happen in the educational sector. It violates the basic founding principles of this country.

What sort of message are they sending to our children about individual liberties? Personally, I think it's treasonous.

[damntexdem]

13. OH, but workers need not worry about political stickers:

so long as they're Republican.

The Gestapo marches on.

[insane_cratic_gal]

14. I worked with a woman

who happened to be a huge GW fan, during a discussion one day she called Iraq people nothing more then a bunch of savages!

I didn't hold my tongue very well, and went on to explain that blanketing an entire country with fox news bullshit was hardly a fair assessment and it was ignorant.

I should of never said anything because she just so happened to be the boss's best friend. I was on contract work, hoping for a full time spot. Need I say I got passed over, even though I was the most qualified of the 6 applicants and had been there the longest.

So another reason you should never allow the Bushinites to goad you into a conversation!

[LiberalFighter]

59. Yes... better to keep your mouth shut in that type of situation

and bide your time for the right moment.

Like I suggested in one post... attach a Kerry, Pride or other type of sticker to their car. Then see how they like being discriminated against.

[Bassic]

15. Sometimes I wonder why I even come here

and read about this shit. This is very depressing. Makes me happy about living north of the border, where the nut jobs are still considered to be dangerous freaks by the general public. (for the time being anyway)

[kedrys]

19. Bienvenue a DU!

Glad to have you here! :hi:

[fortyfeetunder]

56. yes, Canada has an edge on us

No Dubya in it.

(and welcome :hi: to DU!)

[TlalocW]

16. I've curtailed some of my activities

Not because I worry about my regular computer programming job, but because I'm an entertainer on the side - magic, balloon animals, etc., and I know at least two other performers who wouldn't think twice about using something like a letter to the editor I wrote to try and steal jobs from me. Also of concern is just a corporate client learning I'm liberal and not hiring me for something. If the economy was better, it wouldn't be a big deal, but right now, my extra gigs help me out quite a bit.

TlalocW

[NYC]

18. Henry Ford did this.

Nearly a hundred years ago. Progress?

[CrispyQ]

20. This is so wrong on so many levels, I can barely

fathom it. This story enrages me!

We're all just a cog in the behemoth called corporate america. If they had their way, we'd be housed in dormitories where they could monitor our every move & regulate every aspect of our lives.



On-the-job behavior can affect your personal life. :banghead:

[Daphne08]

44. "On-the-job behavior can affect your personal life."

Never was a truer word spoken. :thumbsup:

[psychopomp]

51. Here in Japan many employees choose to live in company dormitories

Strange, hunh?

Of course, in this country you are what is on your business card...

[CrispyQ]

61. Different, not strange.

:hi:


In this country you are the stuff you own.

[newswolf56]

22. Welcome to the BushCo economy. This sort of thing...

...always increases when there is a malevolently pro-business, vindictively anti-worker administration in power. (It increased under Reagan too.)

The ONLY protection is a good union. Alas, Americans have been so radically dumbed down by bad schools, monopolist media and DemoPublican politicians that most people (including far too many Democrats) have knee-jerk anti-union reactions -- all part of being conditioned to identify with one's oppressor.

Don't just think about the hidden meaning of the term "human resources"; reflect on the implications of "human capital" too. This is the real "ownership society" -- we are but serfs, and the plutocrats own us hand, arm, leg and brain.

Solidarity Now! Solidarity Forever!

(Though I think it's already far too late.)

[Karenina]

23. The "ownership" society

[Triana]

24. just talked to someone this weekend who...

...got fired from his job at an alarm company because the boss was a real evangelical nut and evangelical bossman found out mr. employee drinks (not only that but makes his own beer) and so mr. employee got fired.

[icymist]

26. Drinking? Competitors' products? Displaying political bumper stickers?

The fascists are trying to tighten their grip.

[K-W]

30. Companies are private tyrannical governments

who control factors of life and death no less capable of coercion than violence (IE access to sustenance), yet somehow we think holding them to the same standards we hold traditional government is anti-democratic.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

31. There's no way I'd tell my boss my religion

because I know I'd be fired on the spot. Luckily, I hadn't legally changed my name yet, so I can hide behind an innocuous birth name. It's a very small company, so I don't think I could sue for discrimination-and anyway, he'd think of another reason for firing me--maybe make up lies like my huband's former boss did to keep him from getting unemployment after he was let go because of lack of work.

[customerserviceguy]

37. Be glad you live in a state

where they very well don't know your religion yet. I've been trying to find work here in Utah to supplement the computer repair business (funny how it's only come from non-Mormons so far), and I could only find a job with H&R Block for several weeks at the beginning of tax season. They have ways of checking up on who's in what ward, and if you ain't a Saint, you're not going to get hired here.

I guess I need to move back to Washington, the land of espresso coffee and microbrew beer.

[liberaliraqvet26]

32. i told a co worker...

that I am an agnostic and she hasn't been the same since.

[Joacheme Misrahe]

46. I told a co-worker I was an atheist

I didn't volunteer the information. He had been pressing me for it for several days. I didn't think any harm in it (we held the same position) and I told him. His jaw dropped. Accused me of being evil and all that crap.

I had a friend who was speaking to the people in HR who told me later that he was in there while she was talking about it to a friend of his in HR.

The same person in HR he was speaking to had assured me I'd have a full time job with the company a week prior. That offer was later rescinded with no explanation. Gee, wonder why.

The most pathetic thing was - my good christian coworker who accused me of being evil prior to that had always asked me if I wanted to go to the strip club with him... an offer I always declined. They are all f'ing hypocrites.

[Lisa]

52. I suppose he feared that you wouldn't be able to resist temptation ...

... the way he could, since he's so devout and all(!). (Sounds to me like your co-worker might have been setting you up -- if it wasn't the atheism, he would have run off to tattle about you wearing the same pants two days in a row, or something.)

[slay]

33. Will you sell your soul for the almighty dollar?

For a some green pieces of paper? Until people decide to put individual rights ahead of corporate rights - we're fucked. I guess we should just bend over and take it like all the other idiots in this country. More and more America looks like the relationship found in an abusive family. Republicans play the role of abusive dad, while Democrats get beat up, complain, but go back for more. I mean, thank God the Republicans allow us the few freedoms they do right? People need to wake up and stop taking shit from Republicans.

[Initech]

34. I heard of a guy who was fired for drinking Budweiser...

Even though he worked for Coors!

That has to be more fucked up than the woman who was fired for having a Kerry bumper sticker on her car.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

36. I'm a supervisor and I actually checked with one our HR attorneys

last fall regarding this subject, since I wanted to at least put a Kerry bumper sticker on my car. BTW, he was a Kerry supporter, however, he told me that partisan views had become so contentious that our company, as a whole, was adopting a policy of "non partisanship" when it came to the workplace.

This was an expectation of all of us in leadership roles.

And, another supervisor who wore a discreet W pin was told the same thing, so it was enforced across the board.

It's a sad fact of life, however, it must be enforced in both directions. MKJ

[question everything]

40. I can see nothing in the office, but in the car?

what happened if you parked on the street, not on company property?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

54. The building I work in is on a state highway, so parking on the street

wasn't really an option.

Really, though, I see what you're asking. We have a small employee parking area, and all of us are pretty familiar with the cars our colleagues drive.

The lawyer didn't say I absolutely couldn't put the sticker on. However, I work for a non-profit organization and they are sensitive to any indication that our company is leaning one way or the other politically.

I think as a regular employee, this wouldn't be as much of an issue. However, as a supervisor, apparently the expectation is to try to appear as neutral as possible, especially in these highly charged political times.

That said, I personally am not comfortable with squashing my passion and anger around what is happening to our country. Sadly, I haven't found a way to voice it, at work, without freaking out my RW employees.

MKJ

[Joacheme Misrahe]

39. Welcome to the new corporate state

Now the representative government doesn't control us - our corporate masters do.

[question everything]

66. Welcome to DU

:toast:

[Chauga]

42. CEOs run your life already. Why should anyone be surprised at this?

[Freddie Stubbs]

43. I am currently prohibited by federal law

from engaging in some political activities, as the local government that I work for recieves federal funding.

[LiberalFighter]

60. Prohibited activities

# be candidates for public office in a partisan election
# use official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the results of an election or nomination
# directly or indirectly coerce contributions from subordinates in support of a political party or candidate

[LiberalFighter]

62. Permitted Activities

* run for public office in nonpartisan elections
* campaign for and hold office in political clubs and organizations
* actively campaign for candidates for public office in partisan and nonpartisan elections
* contribute money to political organizations and attend political fundraising functions

[iamjoy]

47. It Can Have An Affect

personal story:

I was working at a tuxedo shop. I was also part of the "cast" for the Rocky Horror Picture Show. If you haven't seen the movie, this story may not make much sense. One night, I "played" Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Well, a few days later, I'm at work and this guy was staring at me as I was writing up his order. But I didn't think too much of it. As I went to lead him in the back to take his measurements, I snapped a measuring tape off the hook on the wall and it made an audible crack. He said, "That's where I know you from! The Rocky Horror Picture Show!" It could have turned really ugly, because the guy asked me out (I declined) and on another visit to the tuxedo shop (when I wasn't there) managed to get my home phone number. But that's another story.

OK - now back to our regularly scheduled program.

[undeterred]

50. Anyone heard of PurpleOcean.org?

Just advertised on AAR: http://www.purpleocean.org/

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At PurpleOcean.org, we’re PO’d.

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* We’re PO’d because the American dream is failing millions of hard-working Americans. We know we can do better.

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Welcome to the Good Fight. Welcome to PurpleOcean.org.

[Bombero1956]

58. I've lived with those rules

for 27 years. I cannot put a political bumper sticker on my personal car on department property. Most new members cannot smoke or be fired, must live within city limits, cannot stike to make the city bargain in good faith.

[SoCalDem]

63. Not to worry... It's just the resurgence of

"The Company Store"...:scared:

[lonestarnot]

67. Looks like Lynne Gobbell has a claim for free speech violation v. her

exemployer...civil rights violation, but I'm no lawyer...LOL

[reprobate]

70. Remind these bastards of Paris, 1789. It CAN happen here.

And it will if they keep pushing.

[roguevalley]

71. pump some rounds in the boss's tires and that should end that.

[NuttyFluffers]

72. civil rights must trump corporate rights.

just keep saying it. it's true and should not be abridged, ever. period. anyone who says different is wrong. period.

because as a previous poster says, take away enough civil rights for corporate/oligarcy rights eventually paris 1789 happens all over again.

i'm getting very tired of this and i know my brain will "drain" from this nation's pool of talent. i've had it. i want off this train wreck.

[BadNews]

73. Unions banned pro-Bush bumper stickers prior the the last selection.

This crap goes both ways. It started with pre employment drug screening and has gone crazy from there. Your responsibility to your employer ends at the door of the office.