Last week, as part of this series about how employers grapple with complicated scenarios, I wrote about a vegetarian bus driver who refused to give out coupons for free hamburgers as part of a promotion. Click here to find out how the company handled the case.
This week, I have a new case for you to ponder:
[dropshadowbox align=”none” effect=”lifted-both” width=”600px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]A forklift operator at a supermarket had consistently received stellar performance appraisals. He had even been offered a supervisory position, which he turned down because he enjoyed his current role. At the same time, to earn a few extra bucks, the employee and his wife maintained an erotic website that featured nude photos of the wife. Word of the site got out after police arrested the couple for violating local pornography laws. (Authorities found out about the site from the wife, who had contacted police after getting an email from someone who threatened to rape her and kill the couple’s kids.) Having gotten wind of the news, the supermarket’s management was upset that one of its workers had seemingly violated a policy requiring employees not to tarnish the company’s reputation on or off the job. What should the supermarket do?
[/dropshadowbox]
Check back next week to discover how the organization addressed this problem. In the meantime, please offer your opinions below.
[dropshadowbox align=”none” effect=”lifted-both” width=”600px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]
Herbert Robinson enjoyed his job at a Polk County, Fla., warehouse for the supermarket chain Publix. He never imagined that the erotic website he set up with his wife, Tammy, a waitress by day, would lead to the couple’s arrest. He also never imagined what would happen after his employer got news of it.
Days after the Robinsons made local and national press and after they were released on bail, Robinson’s boss fired him, explaining that he spoke to human resources, which recommended that the supermarket terminate the forklift operator of 17 years. Interestingly, Robinson claimed that the company never specified a reason for letting him go. Not that it matters. Florida, like most states, permits employers to fire people at will, meaning that an individual may be dismissed for any reason or no reason, as long as the company is not violating the worker’s civil rights related to gender, race, religion, etc. Indeed, the ACLU estimates that companies use at-will employment laws unjustly to fire upwards of 200,000 each year.
Publix, which often ranks as one of Fortune’s “Most Admired Companies” did not even ask Robinson to shut down his website, not that he offered.
Eventually, authorities dropped criminal charges against the couple, since prosecutors themselves realized the difficulties of enforcing local anti-pornography laws, which are vague by their very nature. Nonetheless, Robinson was out of a job. And he knew the law was on the side of his former employer, so he chose not to sue.
Instead, the couple moved elsewhere in Florida, where Robinson found work—earning far less—at an aluminum shop. Tammy, meanwhile, became a realtor. And, yes, they maintained their erotic website.
[/dropshadowbox]
