Posted on 10/28/2009 12:56:45 PM PDT by kingattax
A Florida man says he was fired from his job at The Home Depot for wearing an American flag pin that said "One nation under God, indivisible."
Trevor Keezer, 20, said he had worn the button ever since he started working at the home improvement retailer 19 months ago. He said it was his way of supporting U.S. troops, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
Keezer, whose brother Army Spc. Steven Keezer Jr. is set to return to Iraq in December, said none of his supervisors had anything negative to say about the pin until last month when he began bringing his bible to work, the paper reported.
"That's when I was told it had to come off, or I would be sent home," Keezer told WPTV last week.
"So they sent me home for six straight days without pay. And then today they terminated me."
Home Depot spokesman Craig Fishel said he could not comment specifically on Keezer's termination but said, “The company’s dress code policy states that we do not allow non-company buttons, regardless of their message or content.”
Fishel said The Home Depot has its own sanctioned patriotic pins that employees have the option to wear.
Keezer said he opted to wear his own pin instead because none of the company's pins mentioned God.
"You can't have country without God," said Keezer, the Sentinel reported
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
He’s lucky. The new hate crimes legislation has just been signed. If this had happened next week he could’ve gone to prison. /s/
“Fishel said The Home Depot has its own sanctioned patriotic pins that employees have the option to wear”.
...it makes me NOT to want to shop there anymore but HD has a right to request this of their employees. Strange how they waited 19 months.
Hmmmm.
Most likely, he will lose in court.
Had it said ‘allah’ not only would he would win in court, Home Depots across the nation would be burned to the ground.
You're absolutely right, and you have the right to vote against Home Depot by not supporting them financially.
I'm going to wait to see how Corporate responds to this. Could be the doings of a bad manager who later gets rebuked.
That being said, I won't hold my breath on it...
I’ll take my business to Lowe’s...
"So they sent me home for six straight days without pay. And then today they terminated me."
This tells me that his soapbox was more important than his job.
This is too easy, and I must say that I too believe in the Holy Spirit and call myself a God fearing person. That being said, if the company you work for doesn’t allow for your personal opinions being expressed on a button or your clothing, then don’t work there and don’t shop there either.Now that I know that Home Depot doesn’t allow that, I will take my business elsewhere, and I do a lot of business with them (some months over $200,000). They will miss me a lot more than I’ll miss them.
You’re absolutely right, and you have the right to vote against Home Depot by not supporting them financially.’
I have not purchased a single thing at Home Depot since they put up ‘shelters’ in their So Calif parking lots for the illegals who were soliciting ‘day work for cash’ from anyone who drove into the parking lot.
They are not part of the solution...they are part of the problem, IMO.
When I bought this property in 2005, and put up fences and did other additions, I am pretty sure I spent about $6000 with Lowe’s. Got much better customer service within the store, also.
I will drive a further distance to avoid spending any $$$ at HD.
Exactly...in a few years someone caught doing what he did will face fines and prison.
In the USSR people who believed in God were found to be mentally ill...and sent to mental hospitals...where they got appropriate drugs and medical treatment.
Folks, it’s coming.
I have to say it guys, a private company has an absolute right to establish any dress code it likes for its employees. You have to admit it would be disastrous for a company to allow annoying/offensive political buttons—which they would have to—if they also allowed religions buttons.
Would you frequent Home Depot with a cashier having “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet!” button on his shirt....? Or with Obama buttons showing all over? I know I probably wouldn’t.
When working as an hourly employee, ones first responsibility before God is working—that is doing the job at hand—and sharing the good news of the Gospel should be done only where appropriate—usually NOT in a retail environment.
Home Depot can and should establish a dress code for employees and this guy rebelliously violated it. Just because he got away with for a long time (before bringing a bible to work? How is bible reading on the job doing your job?) and they only lately enforced the rule doesn’t mean:
a)Home Depot is anti-religious (or politically correct) and
b) this guy is somehow denied his constitutional rights.... or
c) this is part of some huge diabolical liberal plot to suppress religion....
I agree.Home Depot, like any other employer, must control their employees so as not to encourage complete anarchy. As long as their rules are applicable to everyone, equally, their employees have no complaint. This character is going to have a tough time getting another job if this is his attitude.
Wow, I’ve never seen anything of that sort at HD before...I’ve seen gatherings but never assistance by the store in the form of shelters. That would do it for me too.
I’ll keep an eye out, thanks.
I’ll second that. Lowe’s is cleaner and better organized anyway.
Because if they make an exception for one, what happens the next time? and the next time and the time after that.
management then spends an inordinate amount of time on managing the exceptions to a very basic dress code rule.
A lot easier to say none at all, which I have no problem with.
Your freedom of speech ends at your employer’s door.
I have asked my husband to stop shopping at Home Depot.
The Nashville Gay Pride website notes that Home Depot contributed more than $5,000 to help finance the 2009 festival. The retailer also participated by conducting children’s craft workshops at a special booth set up for them.
http://www.gaywallet.com/forum/topics/antigay-group-says-home-depot
They did allow patriotic buttons.
"Fishel says Home Depot has a "proud history" of supporting the military, and that it sanctions several of its own buttons for employees to wear, including one that reads: "United We Stand." Keezer said he preferred to wear his button because "you can't have country without God. Every pin they showed me had no 'God' on it or anything.""
As previously noted, once you start making exceptions, you've lost control to set company policy. It looks to me like Home Depot tried to look the other way at his violation. I imagine he was doing a bit more than "bringing" his bible to work with him as well. Most likely thing is that his coworkers got tired of his preaching and complained, which is what brought on the order to remove the button and conform to policy.
HD is closer, but the stores are really going down in quality. Lowe's is now my store of choice.
I agree. Everything's getting so in your face in this country. I genuinely admire people who are active in politics, community affairs, and religion. But there's a time and a place. People who argue politics at wedding receptions, people who hassle other people over getting or not getting flu shots, performers who get political at their concerts, military jets doing expensive flyovers at sporting events -- really! A time and a place, people... a time and a place.
Ace is The Place!
I still maintain if you avoid every retail establishment that gets trashed on FR, the only “approved” place to shop is the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store.
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