Fired for not eating beef?

[SuperToiletDuck]

What is the name of your state? GA


I know GA is a right to work state, how lame is that. I am a vegitarian and my company had a xmas dinner that was covered in beef. I was actually fired for refusing to eat it. My boss was already aware that I do not eat beef. I guess my question is, is there ANYTHING in the GA laws that would allow this to go to court???? If anyone has any information it would be great!

 

[cbg]

First of all, get your terminology straight. Yes, you are correct, Georgia is a right to work state. That has NOTHING to do with your situation - right to work means you can't be forced to join a union in order to get work. What you mean to say is that Georgia is, like every other state except Montana (and even including Montana in some circumstances) an employment at will state, which means that you can quit at any time and for any reason at all, and you can be fired at any time and for any reason not prohibited by law.

There is only one way I can think of where you might have any legal recourse for this, and I don't want to put words in your mouth. So tell me, what is your reason for becoming a vegetarian, and does your boss know the reason. (Yes, I understand he knows you're a vegetarian - I'm asking if he knows what your reason for becoming a vegetarian is.)

BTW, I fully agree that your boss is being a jerk. I'm just not at all sure you have a legal case.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

You are telling me that you were quietly sitting there minding your peas and carrots, and got fired because you didn't eat beef? Is there more to it that that?

 

[SuperToiletDuck]

No there is no more to that. This guy thought I was being absolutely rude because i would not put my eating habbits aside and take a plate full of food. I was still being nice to everybody, I was even serving drinks when it all happened. And I dont eat meat for health reasons

 

[BlondiePB]

I'm just "quacking up" over the OP's username.

 

[cbg]

Sorry, health reasons isn't going to give you a legal case. I'm not unsympathetic; Mr. CBG is a vegetarian for health reasons. But the only way I can think of this would have been illegal, would have been if you didn't eat beef for religious reasons. What's more, your employer would have to KNOW that it was for religious reasons, before it would be illegal.

Your boss is a jerk. No question about it. But it's not illegal to be a jerk.

 

[Renee3]

There was a similar case that the Employee won in California a couple of years ago. (I'm not suggesting it will help the OP), just mentioning it as interesting.

The employee was a bus driver in Orange County, CA. (public sector employee, union representation). The bus service decided to have all drivers give riders coupons for free hamburgers to a very well-known hamburger chain, as "thank-you's". Of course, the hamburger chain had provided the coupons for free, in order to get the free advertising.

One bus driver refused to distribute the coupons, because he was vegetarian. He was disciplined, then terminated. His union fought the termination, and he was reinstated to his position.

The argument used to win the case was that distributing hamburger coupons was not an essential function of the position of bus driver. (The other factor was the incredible amount of negative publicity this generated for the County of Orange County once this story hit the newspapers and local TV and radio news! The citizens were pretty outraged. For PR purposes, they found it best to return the driver to his position, AND to not waste taxpayers money by using public employees' time to provide advertising to hamburger chains).

Again, I'm not saying this case in any was helps the OP, as it involves a public-sector, union employee, in California. However, if she's up to the fight and wants to take it further, local media might want to feature her story as an example of extreme bad-boss behavior. Poor PR sometimes does work wonders!

P.S. I'm not an attorney or an HR professional, just an interested by-stander.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

. . . and what is the late "Clara Peller" famous for saying?




IAAL

 

[rmet4nzkx]

My response:

. . . and what is the late "Clara Peller" famous for saying?




IAAL

"Where's the BEEF?"