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Last week, pug owner and former Huffington Post contributor Chrissie Brodigan was threatened with firing for allegedly spewing racist vitriol at police officer Joel Witriol. (There are the makings of a limerick in there somewhere.) Brodigan denies this, saying that Witriol roughed her up (telling her "If you're going to act like a woman I'm going to treat you like a woman" -- wow), and that the New York Post fabricated the witness who claims she made the remarks.
Brodigan's protestations of innocence didn't stop her employer, Plum TV, from threatening to fire her, which got us thinking. Even if she did use slurs against this cop on her own time, is that any of her employer's business?
After the jump, we take a closer look at how others have been treated for their questionable behavior off the clock.
It's one thing to be a racist on your employer's dime, like Tennessee state senate staffer Sherri Goforth, who used her work email to send a racist picture to other staffers. It would be fine if she got fired. (She wasn't.)
But what about people who get canned for being jerks on their own time -- like this guy, who was canned for a racist Facebook post? Granted, he was a member of a civilian review board that investigates charges of racism, among others, against police. Should that matter?
Then, there's the case of D.C. city employee David Le, who was fired for racially charged tweets. He called the area where he worked a ghetto, but also seemed to target himself for racial stereotyping:
"In americas ghetto anacostia... If i get scared i will just yell chinese carry out! They will not shoot me."He also went on to brag about how little work he was doing, so I guess that could be an aggravating factor.
The courts have been characteristically unhelpful in these cases. A judge ruled in favor of NYC employees who rode, off-duty, on a parade float called "Black to the Future: Broad Channel 2098," on First Amendment grounds. An appeals court later overturned that decision, so thanks for that.
Even Supreme Court nominee (and tank-top aficionado) Sonia Sotomayor seems to have conflicting ideas about the policing of off-duty speech. She ruled in favor of a cop who was found to have anonymously sent racist letters in response to charitable solicitations (there's a stand-up guy), but then ruled against a student blogger for calling school administrators "douchebags" in a non-school blog.
While the free speech angle is the sexy one (just ask Larry Flynt or 2 Live Crew), there are lots of variables in that kind of argument. A different, if not better, question is this: When does your boss have to let go and STFU about what you do -- as socially unacceptable as it may be -- on your own time?
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Friday 10 July
By Heavytoka
As much as I think Racism is a horrible and hurtful thing, everyone does have the right to their own opinion, wrong or right. To get fired for someone believing something we might not or thinking differently from us is just wrong.
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Saturday 11 July
By Anna Marie McKeon
I have to agree with Heavytoka's response. I've been an Art Teacher for many years, and spent most of my career working in inner city schools all over the country. In fact, I just published a textbook based on the inspirational teachings of Maria Montessori. Every principal who witnessed the success of their students using this methodology and was pleased, wanting me to continue for as long as I wanted. However, the schools that wanted me to leave were those who insisted on their art teachers developing students who never questioned their parents, school teachers and administration. I'm a great advocate of Ayn Rand's philosophy "To thine own self be true". This old hippy has not changed - I believe, along with many others, that my job is to challenge students to think for themselves, and practice The Golden Rule. I live The Golden Rule, and will leave any college that wants me to go, no matter how much I'll miss the students, professors and staff. I'm now in my 60s, and remain in touch with those students who respect me to learn how to love and respect themselves.
Friday 10 July
By j.howlett
if it's something blurted out in the heat of the moment, it's more forgivable. if it's something they put more effort into, not so much
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Friday 10 July
By Lon Horiuchi V
When your slate is perfectly pure, you're allowed to prosecute and/or persecute others. You say that you're imperfect, but not as imperfect as those who you persecute? You run with an imperfect crowd, but they're not as imperfect as others' crowds? You commit violations, but they're not as bad as the violations of others? Others admit their imperfections but you don't?
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Friday 10 July
By Rooker
Should you be fired? That's a tough question, mainly because free speech doesn't apply to private businesses. If there are no union rules to wade through, I'm pretty sure you can fire anyone you want, as long as you aren't being discriminatory.
Is it any of your boss's business? I'd have to say yes, only if what the person said starts to disrupt business. For instance, if it causes a boycott or clients/advertisers start canceling accounts.
If it's not affecting the company, then no, your boss needs to mind his or her own business. Anything you say could be interpreted as offensive by someone out there. I'm sure the statement "women should be allowed to vote" offends misogynists but that shouldn't be grounds for firing someone.
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Sunday 12 July
By Kerno3232@msn.com
But she isn't a conservative so she can't be racist at least that is what most liberals say
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Sunday 12 July
By Mgmt
In almost every state, private employment is subject to the at-will employment doctrine, i.e., either party can end their employment relationship for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all, so long as it does not otherwise violate the law.
The exceptions are: people subject to an individual employment contract, people who are members of a union with a collective bargaining agreement, and public employees, who enjoy limited first amendment rights.
If you're a private employee, and you publicly articulate an opinion or off-duty conduct that your employer determines has cast it in a negative light, they can fire you, just as you can quit an employer that casts you in a negative light. It's that simple. The first amendment does not apply to private employment.
If you're a public employee, you are protected so long as your speech is political in conduct and is not otherwise disruptive in form.
This, of course, is what an employer CAN do - not what it SHOULD do as a matter of morality or good business practices.
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Sunday 07 February
By WebChick
The First Amendment doesn't apply to private employment? So what does the First Amendment apply to? Everyone who isn't employed. Perhaps you want to show me where in the Constitution it states that if you're privately employed the Bill Of Rights no longer applies to you? If that's the case why don't we declare the Constitution null and void and call this the United States of Corporations. That's pretty damn scary when people fall in line with fascist ideas such as "if you work for me you no longer enjoy the First Amendment." I'm a military veteran and that is pretty damn creepy.
Sunday 12 July
By Aaron
Of course people should be fired for being racist off the job. And since Republicans are racists, they should all be fired from their jobs.
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Sunday 12 July
By JDubya
The comment of being a woman and being challenged to act like a woman is not racist. And when it is from one woman to another, that seems more cutdown than antifeminist or racist. This is sort of a stupid article. How is it that the N-word is treated so harshly when said in public by a person of non Black/Brown skin, but in a movie, where it is dropped all the time (even by people of non Black/Brown skin, e.g. Pulp Fiction) or worse, when you hear young kids/teenagers drop it like they are breathing air. No, I cannot even deem a word like that as racist anymore. Black/Brown skin leaders say it is wrong, entertainers use it as if it were going out of style, and the public vasilates on the matter each day. Seriously. I think the word is hypocrisy.
Some Huffpo worker gets blasted for having the mouth of a 1930's sailor in a Shanghai Port? Why, why that's...expected. Most of the writers on that site have poor penmanship skills.
No. You want to see racism? Go to Europe, both West and East. Go to Japan, China, Korea. Don't be a tourist with a camera. Go there to find business, deal in business. Talk to the people who work at building things, not the person in the art museum or the kid peddling wares. Listen to the working class. They are about as racist as you can find. Why? Why you ask? It appears that a lot of these countries actually fought one another a long time ago.
We fought too. And although we did not officially have an axe to grind, we had some who were sympathetic to Germany, Japan, England, France, China, USSR, etc., etc., etc. We fought to stave off the encroachment of ideals foreign to Liberty.
Funny, the left never seem to get it. They just keep dividing society in smaller and smaller domains of definition. Rules and regulations.
This gal will win her case against her employer.
I cannot tell if the reportor of this article is a witch hunter or a windmill chaser.
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Sunday 12 July
By mmadi10699
There is something un-American in firing someone for what they say outside of the office.
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Sunday 12 July
By Borisslav
If the guilty party is a liberal it is all fine and dandy right? Only if the guilty party is a conservative or a republican should they be attacked, fired or better yet electrocuted.
Since the said racist scum works for the left wing Huffington Post, we should excuse her "in the heat of the moment" actions.
Pathetic, but predictable liberal logic is evident on this thread...
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Sunday 12 July
By EJHill
If you are inextricably linked to your job, that is, if someone sees you and immediately thinks of your employer, then yes you can and should be fired for certain off-work instances. (For example, you just don't see Charlie Gibson, you see Charlie Gibson of ABC News.)
And if off the job behavior spills into on the job work - then employee beware. Would you expect to be able to employ an Aryan Nation webmaster and keep peace on the job site?
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Monday 13 July
By Leroy
I vaguely recall something called ABC news back in the 1950s and they actually reported news. Since I no longer watch TV, I have no idea who Charles Gibson is.
Sunday 12 July
By TFitz
From the Gothamist article linked above:
"Witriol, photographed here by a reader who spotted him at Broadway Junction Tuesday, has not commented publicly on the incident. Nor has any other media outlet besides the NY Post quoted a witness, identified only as Viane Delgado, who claims Brodigan shouted, "You f---ing Jew, you're not even human," at Witriol, who is the city's first Hasidic officer. Another witness, Jason Wagner, claims that he was with Brodigan throughout almost the entire incident, and insists, "I did not hear her say anything about him being Jewish."
I'm assuming it is illegal to carry a dog on the subway. Assumption #1. Here's Chrissys side:
"They took my pug and he told me he was taking him to the pound where he would be "put down." I was taken to the J stop headquarters. I wasn't allowed to call a lawyer and I was put in a cell with handcuffs on with two other women who spit on me and hit me in the head, because they weren't in handcuffs and I was crying so much it bothered them. I was given 3 tickets: failure to produce ID, disorderly conduct, and failure to have dog in a container. I have a court date in August. I asked for a pen to write the badge numbers down before I left and they refused to give me a pen and covered up their badges. My pug was returned. They had him behind their desks and were playing with him."
http://gothamist.com/2009/06/30/woman_says_misogynistic_cop_arreste.php
OK, now we see that you can have a dog, just need to keep him in a container. Makes the violation a little iffy. Technically she was in violation, BUT...Hasidic cop then tells Chrissy they will take the dog and put him down. My question is that if Chrissy had done what I would have done and assaulted the cop instead would her employer have a beef? If I were Chrissy I'd be dead now, not fired.
Under this extreme duress Chrissys actions should be excused.
Put her in a holding cell handcuffed with other prisoners? That's criminal.
First Hasidic cop in NYC? What's up with that?
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Wednesday 13 January
By Julio
Racism is such a slippery word. The fact is we are all racists inside, because frankly black people are different from white people, by skin color, by personality, by culture, and to act like they are the same is bull. But posting things online are firable, because character issues are things you can be fired for. You're free to have your own opinions, but keep them to yourself and personal conversations, or risk the consequences. People are accountable for what they do, and whether we like it or not, employers will snoop on their workers if they can and have the time. Just the way of the times, baby.
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