Woman fired for flipping off Trump motorcade warns of 'creeping speech suppression'

[turbinetree]

The woman who was caught in a photo giving President Trump the middle-finger gesture as his motorcade passed her on the side of the road has penned an op-ed explaining why she is suing her former employer for terminating her over the photo.

In her piece, Juli Briskman compares herself to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has been unable to find work with an NFL team since he began kneeling in protest during the national anthem. Trump criticized Kaepernick on the campaign trail.

"I am not alone in having my ability to make a living threatened by my desire to exercise my right to free speech. No one who follows football thinks that all 50 quarterbacks signed by NFL teams in the past year are more talented than Colin Kaepernick," Briskman wrote in The Washington Post. "These are the stories that have made news, but this facilitation of speech suppression is creeping throughout the private sector."

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/381977-woman-fired-for-flipping-off-trump-motorcade-pens-op-ed


November 2018 cannot get here fast enough

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. This is a fascist government.

[MichMary]

4. Did Trump order that she be fired?

A few years ago, I worked at a bank. A co-worker posted something about one of our customers who was a business competitor of a friend of hers. Nothing that was work-related info. Nothing confidential. Just an opinion that was potentially aggravating to our customer. She was quickly fired. Was that fascism? Was that "creeping speech suppression?

There is plenty enough to criticize about our current administration without resorting to hyperbole and made up stuff.

[sarah FAILIN]

6. HUGE difference

Personally gossiping about customers you know and work with is nothing like flipping off an asshole on your own time far from your job.

[MichMary]

7. It could be detrimental

to the business. There are plenty of Trump supporters who might be tempted to take their business elsewhere. So--not actually a lot of difference.

[sarah FAILIN]

10. Wrong.

Free speech will win out

[MichMary]

13. It's not a free speech issue

it's about employment at-will.

[sarah FAILIN]

18. No.

Didn't happen at work. It will be decided by the courts

[MichMary]

21. An exempt employee

is under a 24 hour/day duty to do nothing to harm his/her company in any way.

[LanternWaste]

26. That would be a contract.

That would be a contract. Hence, provide for us the relevant contract saying as much, and your unsupported premise may look somewhat less fallacious rather than predicated on guess-work.

[malaise]

31. BS n/t

[Bengus81]

12. Should you be fired for not voting for Trump?

Trumpanzies find out a load of people at a business liked Hillary and might take their business elsewhere.

[MichMary]

14. Secret ballot.

Keep your business and your politics separate.

[Bengus81]

20. So...no Hillary bumper stickers or a sign in the yard or face a FIRING? BS............

[MichMary]

22. Maybe not n/t

[erronis]

33. I think you're dancing on the thin edge of the ice with no hope of rescue [NT]

[A HERETIC I AM]

25. Nonsense

As I understand it, the woman came forward and admitted it was her in the photo, as you can not see her face. Also she wasn't wearing any logo to identify her with the company she worked for, so how is it possibly "detrimental to the business"?

[Eliot Rosewater]

30. I hate reading defense of rump on this board. I wont respond to them.

[TNLib]

2. I did that to GW Bush's motorcade

I wasn't planning on it I just did it when I saw his smug face and couldn't help myself. No one said anything to me and I wasn't fired. I'm just not sure what this country is coming to if you can't give the POS the bird.

[MichMary]

3. Was a picture posted on Facebook?

Hers was.

This has nothing to do with speech suppression. She showed a huge lack of judgment and restraint, and is suffering the consequences. She was an at-will employee. Unless Trump, or someone else in the administration, ordered her employer to terminate her (and there is no evidence of that,) they can fire her for any reason.

[TNLib]

5. No I don't think FB was that popular then

But I was working for a federal agency as a contractor at the time and could have easily been spotted and fired. Either way I hope she wins her lawsuit.

[MichMary]

8. Do you also believe

that the clown who was fired from his restaurant job for attending the Charlottesville white supremacist rally should also sue?

[TNLib]

9. No I don't he would win

nt

[MichMary]

16. I don't think this woman will win, either n/t

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. At-will employment is the national understanding of employment without contracts.

If your contract doesn't specifically name protections for your activity or behavior outside of work, your employer can fire you for it. How do people think all the neo-nazis identified in the past year from public protests are losing their jobs? And collective bargaining agreements don't necessarily protect you specifically against vague issues around "code of conduct" -- they just provide an official process for the company to show you the door.

[.99center]

15. I just came to laugh at all the racist on FB and Twitter

Comparing her action to those neo-Nazi's fired for screaming anti-Semitic phrases and running over people.

Oops,I guess you don't have to travel to far to read that bullshit.

[MichMary]

17. I guess you're missing the point

that if you are an at-will employee your boss can can you for pretty much anything. Legally.

[LanternWaste]

27. You certainly make many, many unsupported allegations

You certainly make many, many unsupported allegations and apply them specifically to her termination without relevant knowledge of her contract, her status or her company's policies.

Oh--before I forget: welcome back!!!

[MichMary]

29. About at-will employment

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment

At-will employment is a term used in U.S. labor law for contractual relationships in which an employee can be dismissed by an employer for any reason (that is, without having to establish "just cause" for termination), and without warning,[1] as long as the reason is not illegal (e.g. firing because of the employee's race or religion). When an employee is acknowledged as being hired "at will," courts deny the employee any claim for loss resulting from the dismissal.

If she had had a contract that specified that she could not be fired for flipping off the POTUS, I think she might have mentioned it in the article. The fact that she didn't, kind of says a lot. And the fact that all she is only suing for an additional two weeks severance says the rest. $2700. And 15 minutes of fame.

[TNLib]

19. I know it's crazy. I did the same thing in the Bush years

and no one batted an eye and the folks on DU back them thought it was great. Now I'm like a neo Nazi. What ever has happened to DU

[Initech]

24. And now that shit is on Fox News and in the White House.

[Initech]

23. It's so ironic that the people who want to suppress speech the most...

Are the ones who are the quickest to cry "freeeeeeeee speeeeeeech!!!!!!1!!!1!" when they claim their racist and sexist views aren't represented. It's fascism alright!

[IronLionZion]

32. I bet there are liberal employers who would be supportive since they also oppose Trump

and like freedom. Right?

[erronis]

34. And, amazingly, the ACLU would look at both sides and defend the one with the best position

While we rave and rant on these boards, there are cool heads in many organizations such as the ACLU that look at these issues as legal/constitutional issues.

IANAL but I think that no matter your position (liberal/conservative, free-speech/proscriptive) there are valid points and counter-points.

Of course none of us have seen all the contractual arrangements between the flipper and her employer. Not all behaviors and corporate actions are always laid out in specificity. Much is left to standard practice and common sense. Having worked within the government, for multiple contractors, and private corporations, I do know that aberrant behavior by an employee or by the corporation is not well-rewarded.

For a US Government contractor to take strong actions against this type of personal display would be outside of normal bounds. Now if she worked for a company that dealt directly with the Executive Branch and in this environment, who knows.