restaurant manger fired for socializing with subordinates; suit rejected

[The Straight Story]

Court rejects suit against restaurant

Katie Nelson
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 16, 2005 12:00 AM

CHANDLER - The Serrano family has been dishing up classic Mexican fare at its East Valley eateries for 25 years. But for the past four, the prominent Chandler family has been fighting a lawsuit that would have forced it to fork over a fistful of cash.

Its battle ended Wednesday with a federal court decision. The jury refused to award money to a manager who was fired for holding Bible-study classes that included three Serrano's servers.

...


The issue stemmed from 2001, when Naeve started holding a Bible study for her Church of the Nazarene congregation. The beginners class wasn't held on company time or property, but three of Naeve's employees were among those who attended.

Serrano's argued this violated the Chandler-based business' "Manager's Code of Conduct," a policy that prevented supervisors from socializing with subordinates.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0616serranos16.html

[TahitiNut]

1. Watch the fundies go radioactive ...

... and find themselves in opposition to the corporation-uber-alles "ownership" have's.

[SteppingRazor]

2. Hmm... I actually have a problem with this myself.

A company should not be able to regulate what any employee does with his/her spare time. This is just as bad as that guy who fired all his employees who smoked, even if they didn't smoke at work. It's worse, really, because at least he could back up his action by saying that the smoking affected the health-insurance premiums he had to pay out.

Free speech is for everyone, Bible-thumpers included.

[Atman]

3. Lawdy, he weren't SOCIALIZING, he was PROSELTYSING!

Ain't no rule 'ginst spreadin' the word of the Lord! Prais the lawd, and pas my Super Beefy Deep Fried Chimi Lardfest Burrito!

[On the Road]

8. We the Employees "Encouraged" to Attend

or were they already Christians? I have to confess, I have a real problem with limiting the employees' rights as well as the manager's.

To me, this provision would seem to infringe on the freedom of association. A government employer couldn't do it. I can't believe businesses are allowed to.

[Atman]

9. I have to agree...

It seems pretty clear that everybody was on his own time. Hell, in a small town, I would almost be surprised if the guy DIDN'T have people he knew in his classes. That said, I don't know if this is a small town, and as you asked, whether or not the employees were required or strongly encouraged to attend. IOW, no, you're not required to attend...but I'll be taking attendence. Kind of like Crazy Mofo John Ashcroft's prayer sessions on government time with government employees. He claimed no one was forced to attend, yet his staff said they felt intimidated, and that attendence was clearly expected.

Except, Ashcroft clearly broke the law and didn't get so much as a rebuke from the GOP for it.

IOKIYAR. With money and a hotline to BushCo.

[noamnety]

4. I saw the same policy abused in the army

In one instance, the enlisted men's wives were selling chili as a fundraiser. An officer's wife walked by, and saw that the line was really long, and the two women serving were falling behind. So the officer's wife jumped in to help dish out the chili.

The husband got counseled because the wife was fraternizing with subordinates (a civilian wife of a noncommissioned officer is subordinate to a civilian wife of an officer).

mind-numbing.

[Dora]

5. The policy was there.

If a manager doesn't like the policy, then they should discuss it with the next person up the food chain.

But going ahead and defying a policy that you know about - even for religious reasons - is total grounds for dismissal.

[ima_sinnic]

6. dumbass policy

fundy BS aside, does this mean that if I go to Happy Hour and see my boss there, I can't have a beer with him?
what about the company Christmas party? do they have separate rooms for management and for underlings?
and what about all the different management levels? jr. managers have to leave the lounge if a sr. manager walks in? each level of management is required to avoid those above and below in "social situations"?
now I know why I refuse to work in the dumbass, brain-dead, class-warfare BS world of corporate cube rats. been there, done that.

[bobbieinok]

7. misleading title...he was holding Bible study classes, not socializing

[The Straight Story]

10. The rule cited said socializing - why does the method matter?

What if it was someone who posts on DU and wanted to hook up with other people who posted here after work and talk about bush?