Graphic Designer Fired After Heckling Bush

[Skinner]

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A man who heckled President Bush at a political rally was fired from his job at an advertising and design company. The graphic designer said he was told he'd embarrassed and offended a client who provided tickets to the event.

"I was told that my actions reflected badly on the company and that a client was upset," Glen Hiller of Berkeley Springs said.

Hiller was escorted from Hedgesville High School on Tuesday after shouting comments about the Iraq war and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction there. The crowd had easily drowned out Hiller with its chant: "Four more years."

Arriving at his job with Octavo Designs in Frederick, Md., the next morning, Hiller said he was "shocked" to learn he was fired. A woman at the company who declined to give her name confirmed Hiller was axed because of his conduct at the rally.

More...

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/9461834.htm

[Kimber Scott]

1. I keep getting reminded of our "freedoms" everyday.

What happened to them?

[Deja Q]

4. We never had any freedoms, only illusions of.

We've always been at the mercy of the employers.

And if you try to be an entrepreneur, they tax you to death and/or the big corporations buy you out so they can call YOUR ideas theirs.

Any employee of a company has to abide by the rules TOTALLY or else 'valid' grounds are laid for dismissal.

We've never had any damn freedoms.

And never will given the indolence of 'society' as it stands.

[oasis]

2. "Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing"

:eyes:

[Love Bug]

3. What ever happened to freedom of speech?

He didn't do this on the job or (as far as I know) wear a t-shirt with the company's name on it-- WTF?

Fuck that client and fuck that company for not sticking up for their worker's rights. The guy can try to sue, but it's hard to know what he would get, if anything. Employers can fire at any time, for any reason.

Assholes.


Maybe we should send that company copies of the Constitution with the bill of rights underlined and ask them how it feels to act like they are in the Soviet Union!

[mojowork_n]

10. It's all about the size of the Legal Defense Fund

If it's worth fighting for -- if it was worth writing into the Constitution in the first place -- let's hope the ACLU (or some similar organization) opens its collective wallet, and draws a line in the sand.

...But who's to know what really happened, if the gentleman, himself, is the *only* person there willing to stand up and tell the truth? It could get ugly if absolutely everyone else in attendance is persuaded to testify that the man had 3 or 4 (or 8 or 12) beers too many, was loud and inappropriately "boisterous", and was also wearing clothing that was "too loud" -- orange and purple and argyle plaid. And he hadn't showered or shaved for 10 days, to boot. Or something alone those lines.

If nothing else, maybe it would be helpful to know the name of the company he was working for, to organize a boycott.

[Kimber Scott]

5. Let's see how much more they can be embarrased.

http://www.octavodesigns.com/#

On edit:

Here's the email I sent:

Subject: Firing a Guy for Speaking His Mind at a Political Rally?

Pretty rough stuff for a "free" country, don't you think? Hope you enjoy the "free" publicity.

[Deja Q]

7. They call themselves creative yet waste the viewer's time with a bland

splash page, how 1995 is that?!

The 'main' page is a puny pop-up window.

This is creative?

Even I could do better.

[merh]

6. So instead of fighting terra - the goal is to do away with all of our

freedoms and terra will go away too because they hate us for our freedoms. It is part of *'s campaign against terra.

Terraists hate us for our freedoms so if you take away our freedoms then they will have nothing to hate us for and they will go away!

What logic - what morans!!!!!!!! :cry: :nuke:

[Cyrano]

8. Give Bush another four years and

people like Mr. Hiller won't be fired. They'll be shipped off to a gulag and never heard from again.

The fascist bastards running this country have caused damage that may take many decades to fix. Destroying is easy. Building is hard. Jeeeez, I hate these BushCo M****r F*****s,

[JohnLocke]

9. Might be illegal in Maryland, might not

In Maryland, employees work "at the will" of their employers. This means, in the absence of an express contract, agreement or policy to the contrary, an employee may be hired or fired for almost any reason -- whether fair or not -- or for no reason at all.

There are certain exceptions to this general rule which provide some protection to employees from illegal discrimination based on such categories as race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability or marital status. Examples of other employment at-will exceptions include laws which protect employees from termination or retaliation for filing workers' compensation claims, for attempting to enforce rights to receive overtime or the minimum wage, for asserting rights to work in a safe and healthy workplace, for refusing to commit criminal acts, for reporting for jury duty or military service, or for being subject to a wage attachment for any one indebtedness. Terminating an employee for any of these specific reasons may constitute a violation under the applicable State or federal law.
http://www.dllr.state.md.us/labor/wagepay/wpatwill.htm
----
(...)
If the employee has an employment contract or if you have made promises to the employee, then that contract or those promises will control when you can fire the employee. In most cases with an employment contract or where you made promises, you can only fire the employee for something called "good cause."
http://www.lawsguide.com/mylawyermd/guideview.asp?layer=3&article=211#4

[JohnLocke]

11. Here's their email

[e-mail]

[bluestateguy]

12. Another job lost on Bush's watch

He's no different than the 1.5 million others who have lost their jobs in this Administration.

[NJCher]

13. here's what I wrote

How loathsome and despicable you are for firing the designer for heckling bush. I thought creative businesses were a bit more broadminded than that. I guess not.

This speaks poorly of your understanding of the foundation of our country. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

bush couldn't shine your fired designer's shoes. He is a liar who has put us into danger and who has plunged the U.S. into financial disaster. And this is what you stand up for?

Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame on you.


Cher

[Straight Shooter]

14. They are illegally using RadioShack's registered slogan

Go to their site http://www.octavodesigns.com/# click the Contact link, and there you have it, in the lower right-hand corner:



You've got questions, we've got answers is a registered trademark of RadioShack. Adding the 8-ball blurb doesn't mean squat.

Busted!!!!

[quaoar]

15. In the LBN forum thread on this

It was mentioned that it was probably the client that got pissed and pressured the company to fire the designer.

[American liberal]

16. while I agree with all the sentiments in this thread...

as one who works for a client-focused service company, the heckler showed poor judgment. Tickets were provided by the company's client, according to the report, and the customer is always right.

It would have been another matter entirely if a bunch of employees of said company got together on their own time, went to the event and heckled. In this case, although not on the clock, attending the event was under company auspices.

I was recently "written up" because of claims made by an emotionally unbalanced client. I did not do the things I was accused of, but it didn't matter to the employer. If the client whimpered, it's the employee that gets kicked to the curb. Such is life in the business world.

Peace,
AL