Fired for Shunning the Mark of the Beast (no, this is not from the onion)

[The Straight Story]

Fired for Shunning the Mark of the Beast


ROME, Ga. (CN) - A worker in a plastics plant claims he was fired for refusing to wear a sticker celebrating how many days the plant had been accident-free. He claims he could not wear the number 666 because it's the Mark of the Beast in Revelations.

Billy E. Hyatt sued Berry Plastics Corp. for retaliation and religious discrimination, in Federal Court.
Hyatt worked on the extrusion line, making flexible packing products.

"Plaintiff's sincere religious belief as a Christian is that he should not wear any depiction of the number '666' as this number is a representation of Satan and/or that this number is the 'sign of the beast.'

"Plaintiff<'s> sincere religious belief is that to wear the number 666 would be to accept the mark of the beast and to be condemned to hell."

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/11/16/41493.htm

[Turbineguy]

1. Weeeeeeellll.....

As everybody knows, 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything. But it's also an answer to 6 X 7.

So I think he wasn't fired for not wearing the sticker, I think he was fired because they discovered he's batshit crazy.

[1StrongBlackMan]

44. Not necessarily ...

Batshit crazy, just has a religious belief with which you disagree.

But that said, he was fired because that company had a completely ineffective Human Resources Department. This issue is EEO 101.

[TalkingDog]

55. It's not a religious belief. It's a belief cobbled together from religous texts

and misinterpretation of bad translations of earlier religious texts.

Believing Jesus is the Christ and the Son of Yaweh by what supernatural means there be, is a religious belief. That's a core tenet of the mythos. The other...well, I won't repeat myself. But it is not a religious belief.

[Javaman]

2. "from this day forward, when counting upward, the number 666 will be banned"...

"We will now count 664, 665, 667, etc! And any combination of numbers though various methods in mathematics that result in the satanic number, will be round up one! That is all, god has spoken".

[yesphan]

27. 664, 665,

665+1, 667.........

[Javaman]

43. Good one! LOL nt

[Leopolds Ghost]

49. "The number you shall count to is 667. 668 is RIGHT OUT!"

[Fumesucker]

3. Ronald Wilson Reagan

666

Ron and Nancy Reagan retired to a house at 666 St. Cloud Road. Nancy had the address changed to 668.

[sharp_stick]

15. So they were then neighbors of the beast

fundies drive me nuts

[Leopolds Ghost]

46. I have a friend who avoids EVERYTHING that adds up to 18 because it is 6+6+6. Not joking.

Not joking. He thinks anything Republican adds up to the number of the beast.

He's irreligious and a devout Occupy supporter, BTW.

Funny thing is, I'm the one who's religious and I'm always having to
convince him not to do numerology puzzles before going to an address.

What's that photo of, Fumesucker?

[court jester]

53. that is one of the creepiest things in political history

ok maybe it's silly and no I don't literally think Ol Ronnie was the "beast" whatever that is

but...


How many addresses are there in just the better parts of Southern Calif? From Santa Barbara to La Jolla?

10 million? More probably

and Ronald (6) Wilson (6) Reagan (6) retires to 666 ST. Cloud Rd.

It's one of those things that make ya think whomever or whatever is really running things (...) actually has a pretty good sense of humor.

Oh yeah, there was that thing about being struck down and rising again too..

Xtra funny

[The Doctor.]

4. Actually, the number of the Beast is '616'.

Therefore he's likely already damned to hell AND out of a job.

[The Straight Story]

5. I thought it was 9-9-9

:rofl:

[Brickbat]

6. Let's see, what could have helped prevent this, no matter what he believes?

Hmmmmm..... :think:

[Turbineguy]

7. I hate

logic.

[Initech]

8. I left alone... my mind was blank...

:headbang:

[Gold Metal Flake]

9. A worker is not a billboard.

I don't give a fuck what the sticker had on it. No one should be fired for not wearing a fucking sticker. A worker is assigned a job to do. leave the worker alone to do the job. Keep your bullshit celebratory stickers the fuck off of the workers. Put them on a table in the break room and those who wish to apply them to their person can do so. Better yet, a nice luncheon (as we have here) or a nice t-shirt or a nice 5 dollar bonus would be reasonable alternatives.

I wonder how many days will pass before it's safe for a human to work at this shithole Berry Plastics Corp.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. Agree

That's the issue here. Even some highly educated people are superstitious and shun, for example the number thirteen. I don't care if they have a religious reason or not, a person should not be fired for a bullshit reason like this. I despise this type of authoritarian attitude on the part of companies when there is no compelling reason to make every worker conform.

[redqueen]

16. He was fired for staying home on that day.

Hyatt says he accepted the 3-day suspension, rather than wear the Mark of the Beast.

On March 17, he says, he was fired for refusing to work on March 12, day 666.

Hyatt says he was subjected to harsher punishment for missing work because of his refusal to wear the Mark of the Beast, than he or others would have been subjected had they missed work for other reasons.

Just ditching work because of a safety calendar?

I'd have fired this nonsense-babbling employee as well. No workplace wants someone proselytizing about evil safety calendars. :eyes:

[Gold Metal Flake]

19. No worker there should have been required to wear the fucking sticker.

You want to throw insults at the worker, go right ahead. Enjoy yourself. As an agnostic I find the fear of a number to be silly, but I also find the act of requiring workers to wear this sort of self-congratulatory advertising for the bosses to be demeaning and out of line. This is not about the individual worker, who has been made into a strawman in this case. This is about management dehumanizing workers. Treating them like pets or machines.

Them: "Hey, you, come here!" (peel, stick) "Now get back to work or you're fired, you worthless little fuck! Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

You: "It's OK, that one is a little weird anyways."

[redqueen]

20. Insults? He was babbling nonsense. That is not an insult it is a fact.

And he was doing so at work.

Proselytizing at work should be enough of a reason to fire him IMO.

Go on and call the ACLU about forcing employees to wear stickers. I'm sure they'll take this issue up.

Apparently dehumanizing workers is A-OK as long as they're sex workers. Funny how hardly anyone gives a crap about that. Yeah, but stickers are dehumanizing. Right.

[Gold Metal Flake]

25. Insults.

I would not trust to have you in my union.

[Leopolds Ghost]

47. He wasn't proselytizing. Where does this anti-libertarian attitude come from

On the atheist wing of the left?

[Marrah_G]

23. At my second job I have to wear a uniform, nametag and any other thing the company requires

At my first job I can pretty much wear anything that isn't too casual. Pajamas and slippers might get me an odd look....

There was nothing offensive about the sticker except in his own fucked up head.

[Gold Metal Flake]

26. Haters gonna hate.

[Marrah_G]

30. huh?

[Jim Lane]

42. I disagree. Employers act correctly when they stress safety.

Posting signs about the number of accident-free days is a common practice. I've never heard of stickers before, and it seems a little odd, but I can see some point to it -- each day the employee begins work by putting on that day's sticker, an affirmative act that reminds him or her to think about safety. Let the employer try it and see if it helps.

My bias here is that, as an attorney, I frequently represent victims of on-the-job accidents. I'm guessing that most DUers are in comfortable office or school settings where "danger" means a paper cut. Some people, however, work where permanent total disability could strike at any minute. The bosses have to take responsibility for maximizing the workers' safety, and they shouldn't be mocked for a good-faith effort in that direction.

That said, I do think that letting one worker skip the sticker for one day would have been a reasonable accommodation and would not have undercut the safety campaign.

[LanternWaste]

21. Unless they choose to be

" A worker is not a billboard..."

Unless they choose to be-- I've witnessed many people wearing many different types of clothing advertising and celebrating products, philosophies, religions, bands, animals, life-styles, etc. I imagine in those cases, they are simply choosing to demean themselves...?

Or is it demeaning if and only if it's sponsored by those who sign the paychecks?

:shrug:

[snagglepuss]

39. Bang effing on. This so pisses me off.

:mad:

[WingDinger]

10. Mayhem, next, Chili's waiter/resses will shun their mandatory "flair".

[RC]

11. He could have put the sticker on up-side-down. 999

If anyone asks, look down at it and say "It looks OK to me".

That said, there has to be more to this, fired for not wearing a stupid sticker?
On the other hand, maybe he was one of those idiots that goes around telling everyone else that are going to Hell because they don't believe his mythology as he does.

[qb]

13. If the sticker really was the only reason for the firing, the employer is an idiot.

Of course, there may be more to the story.

[Marrah_G]

14. I'm relatively certain that someone who believes wearing a sticker will damn themselves to hell....

....and is willing to lose his job over it.... is a pain in the ass employee that is probably not missed by many. Religious extremists don't generally work harmoniously with others.

Just my two cents.

[redqueen]

18. +eleventy bazillion

[geardaddy]

24. +1000

[Leopolds Ghost]

48. Yeah! let's fire all the religious people! Atheist professionals unite!

Is there anything you're willing to lose your job over your beliefs?

Do you actually want to lose your job over it?

Do you actually want someone you AGREE with to lose their job over said beliefs?

See post #47.

[redqueen]

17. Of course there is, but no one reads articles.

Headlines do fine.

[KamaAina]

22. Why didn't he just bash himself over the head with a two-by-four on Day 665?

Problem solved. :eyes:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

33. ...

:rofl:

[mike_c]

28. plaintiff is a nutjob who needs psychological care....

Some people will believe ANYTHING.

[Leopolds Ghost]

50. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called

Group think and party politics. But apparently you ponies don't have any beliefs you'd be willing to get fired for.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

29. amazing that this company has enough money to make stickers everyday

I hope they have great benefits and pay.

[toddwv]

31. I think that not forcing a worker to wear a sticker for ONE day, would be a reasonable accomodation.

Barring that, let him take the day off as vacation or something.

While I don't want to lend the guy's views credence, I'm not sure why not letting him skip the sticker for one day was too much. Of course, it comes up again at 1666 etc. but that's over 2 years in between and not likely to happen.

[Jim Lane]

38. I agree. The key issue is reasonable accommodation, not whether the worker's a jerk.

If a Sikh says he has to wear his turban for religious reasons, and the nature of the factory's work is that such headgear is prohibited for safety reasons, then too bad for the Sikh, he can't work there.

In the 666 case, by contrast, the accommodation is that ONE worker doesn't wear the sticker for ONE day. That won't significantly undermine the employer's campaign to heighten safety consciousness. Strike the balance between the employer's legitimate interest in safety and the worker's sincere (though delusional) religious belief, and this one comes out on the side of the worker.

[Leopolds Ghost]

51. I've never heard of a workplace where turbans were banned for safety reasons

But there are plenty of people on DU who would be willing to do so, like the folks in France.

Because beliefs are evil! Unless they have something to do with abstract concepts like liberty
and (nonexistent for some time now) democracy, of course.

I don't see what makes him a jerk.

[Jim Lane]

57. That was a hypothetical example to illustrate my point.

Your response blurs the distinction between two governmental actions: banning the wearing of the turban, and allowing an employer to ban it despite the general illegality of workplace religious discrimination.

The first would be a gross violation of the First Amendment, similar to the French ban on the hijab (and I agree with you in condemning that ban). The second is a closer case, but if the employer could show that the nature of the factory work made the turban a safety hazard, then I think the ban would and should be permitted, even though it effectively excludes people of one religion from working on that shop floor.

As for the stickerphobic subject of the OP, I said that it was irrelevant whether or not he was a jerk. His belief, however idiotic we may think it, could have been reasonably accommodate by the employer, so it should have been. I will say that, among various religious tenets, things like the story of the talking snake strike me as improbable, but it's significantly more improbable to think that a loving God would condemn someone to eternal damnation for wearing a workplace safety sticker.

[tammywammy]

54. I agree

They should have just let him not wear the sticker. :shrug:

[unblock]

32. as long as they he doesn't accept it on his right hand or forehead, he's ok.

but his "sincere religious beliefs" probably don't include actually reading the bible....

[redqueen]

34. Expecting these poor, persecuted religious people

to actually understand their religion is probably also considered religious persecution by many.

[Leopolds Ghost]

52. "poor" being the operative phrase here.

We can't have that rabble in our educated and tolerant 99%.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

35. Did they have to wear a new sticker everyday? This whole thing seems absurd

And I stand behind his decision. As dumb as it might be- at least it is a little bit more prevalent of a belief that everyone in America knows about

[zbdent]

36. he should have tripped and got injured on day 665 if he was so worried ...

that would have been a better way to prevent wearing the number of the beast ...

Or he could have shown support for Spermin' Herman Cain ...

[MattBaggins]

37. Idiot employer

It's called picking your battles. This would have been so damned easy to just say OK and let the guy go about his job for the day.

Now there may have been other reasons he was actually fired.

[Warren DeMontague]

40. He could have cut his own finger off and reset it back to zero.

Seems like the sensible thing to do. :shrug:

[Warren DeMontague]

41. Remember, folks, "Safety" is only a few letters away from "Satan"

Coincidence? I THINK NOT.

[lonestarnot]

45. Sounds like somebody is gona get some dough.

:shrug:

[spin]

56. It is fairly obvious that this sticker had nothing to do with the Mark of the Beast ...

However if I would have been in management I would not have had any serious concern about his not wearing the sticker. It is not really that big of a deal.