Fired For Not Hula-Hooping Legal?!

[Seraphym]

What is the name of your state? Texas

Three nights ago, my fiance's car was broken into and damaged. The morning after, he used my car to get to work. Yesterday morning, he tried taking his own car, but it broke down on him on the freeway. He did call his job and explain that he would be late, and if they could send someone to pick him up, which they did.

Every Friday morning, there is a sales meeting (he's a car salesman), and the managers demand that every salesman be on time. The punishment for being late to a meeting is that the tardy person must stand up in front of the entire group (20-30 people) and hula hoop. Yes, hula hoop, like a child. It isn't meant to be fun and funny, it's meant to be degrading and embarassing. Well, this morning my fiance was obviously late because of his misfortune with the car, and when his GM told him to get up and "dance", he said No, because he had a valid excuse that was unavoidable. They terminated him immediately in front of everyone, just for standing up for himself.

I understand that an at will employee can be terminated for any reason, but isn't this going a little far? Everyone feels it's just ridiculous--these are grown men and women with dignity, just trying to do their jobs. So my question is: is there ANYTHING that can be done about this, legally, at all or should we file this away under "crazy stuff we can laugh about later"?

 

[Pfaffing85690]

Of course there is something he can do:

1. find another job.

2. Learn to hula hoop

3. sue the *******s and learn that they have every right to fire him for any reason.

Ask your boyfriend if he watched when the last person was so 'punished'? I'll bet the answer is yes.

 

[Matt70]

I am no attorney but have had 6 years experience with Union labor representation, arbitration and grievence procedings.
What that employer is doing is creating a hostile work environment. :tdown:

I would have considered hooping and after approximately 5 minutes of it fell to the floor in a siezure.

 

[Beth3]

"What that employer is doing is creating a hostile work environment" Legally, Matt70 doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. I do rather like the seizure idea though.

Seraphym. Pfaffing is of course correct. Legally, there is not a thing your fiance can do. Instituting stupid "disciplinary" measures and embarassing employees is not unlawful.

 

[cbg]

Since Matt70 has seen fit to provide incorrect information, I will add that an individual does NOT legally have a hostile working environment unless they are being subjected to either sexual harassment or illegal discrimination under Title VII.

What the original poster describes does not even come close to meeting the definition.

 

[Pfaffing85690]

but if you've seen some of those fat sales people, I would consider a case of VERY bad taste

 

[Seraphym]

Thanks, everybody. We pretty much figured there wasn't anything that could be done, but it would have been nice to stick it to those crummy, 2-faced b*****d managers of his for once. Jerk them around the way they LOVE to jerk around their customers...

Oh well, this is probably the best thing that could have happened--now he won't be stuck at that awful place!

Pfaffing85690, you're right on the money--seeing those guys dance around like that is NOT the kind of thing you want in your head for the rest of the day...

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Mrs. Liable, my wife, likes the way I use the Hula-Hoop. I don't spin it around my waist . . . I DO have great muscle control!

(Place '70's porn music, here)


IAAL

 

[HomeGuru]

And IAAL, I bet your hoop is one of those glow in the dark ones with the blinking lights.

 

[Matt70]

If an employee is not under contract, he or she is an at-will employee. An employer can dismiss an at-will employee hired for an indefinite term at any time for any non-discriminatory reason. Likewise, the at-will employee is free to terminate their employment at any time. The at-will employment doctrine, however, is being eroded in many states. Some challenges and exceptions to at-will employment include: breach of implied contracts through employee handbooks, public policy violations, reliance on an offer of employment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
An employee with a hostile work environment claim must establish that:
he or she belongs to a protected class,
she or he was subjected to unwelcome sexual harassment,
the harassment was based on sex,
the harassment affected a term, condition, or privilege of employment, and
the employer knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take remedial action.
Conduct sufficient to create a hostile working environment must be severe or pervasive. A sexually objectionable environment must be both subjectively and objectively offensive. Whether an environment is hostile or abusive depends on a totality of circumstances, focusing on factors such as the frequency of the conduct, the severity of the conduct, the degree to which the conduct is physically threatening or humiliating, and the degree to which the conduct unreasonably interferes with an employee's work performance.

 

[Pfaffing85690]

Matt, do yourself a favor and actually learn to interpret what you cut and paste out of your school books.

This issue is over. Period.

 

[BlondiePB]

Matt's just another great example of a brain on drugs.

 

[cbg]

Matt has just proved MY point. Shame he didn't read what he posted.

 

[Beth3]

(a) Matt70 still doesn't know what he's talking about nor does anything he posted have any bearing on this situation, and (b) since he stated in his other post he tested positive for drugs at work, what possible advice of any value could he even offer?

 

[divgradcurl]

I think Matt70 was trying to suggest that "intentional infliction of emotional distress" would be an angle to try and show unfair termination -- of course, then he goes off on a tanget, and describes the cause of action for Title VII harrassment...