Posted on 09/18/2020 12:22:16 AM PDT by be-baw
The United States Government's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is taking Kroger to court, alleging that they've violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The case centers around small, light blue, dark blue, red, and yellow embroidered hearts that Kroger implemented as part of its dress code in April 2019. A Twitter sleuth suggests that the hearts were part of a Kroger "promise campaign" and that its colors represented its four tenets: everyone friendly and caring, everything fresh, uplift every way, and improve every day. The supermarket chain itself has yet to formally confirm or deny this (via Arkansas Democrat-Gazette).
Whatever the case, two Conway Arkansas Kroger employees, Brenda Lawson and Trudy Rickerd, firmly believed that the hearts violated their religious beliefs. According to the EEOC's filing, Lawson and Rickerd saw the embroidered heart as a symbol of LGBTQ pride (via The Miami Herald). Because the two women believe that homosexuality is a sin, they refused to wear (or covered up) the hearts. "Wearing the logo showed (their) advocacy of the community, which (they) could not do," stated the EEOC's filing. In late May and early June 2019, both Lawson and Rickerd were fired from Kroger.
LGBTQ-friendly media organizations have since pointed out that Kroger's heart does not evoke Pride in the slightest. They note that half of the Pride flag's colors aren't even there, and the colors aren't present in equal amounts.
After Kroger's April 2019 uniform change, both Lawson and Rickerd attempted to negotiate with Kroger, offering to wear the apron and cover up the heart with their nametags or to buy another apron, sans the heart. Kroger denied their requests. Per the filing, "(Kroger) refused to accommodate the religious beliefs of Lawson and Rickerd, and disciplined and terminated them because of their religious beliefs and in retaliation for requesting a religious accommodation," the EEOC said in the complaint.
The EEOC is not only seeking back pay, compensatory damages, and punitive damages for the two women (via Advocate), but is also demanding that Kroger institute policies "which provide equal employment opportunities for Lawson and Rickerd and which eradicate the effects of its past and present unlawful employment practices." Explaining the case, Delner-Franklin Thomas, district director of the EEOC's Memphis District Office, said, "The EEOC protects the rights of the LGBTQ community, but it also protects the rights of religious people."
Meanwhile, since 2017, when lawyer Janet Dhillon was nominated by President Trump to take over the EEOC (she assumed the post in 2019), civil rights organizations have been sounding alarm bells. "We are concerned that the nominee to lead the federal agency that promotes equal opportunity for employees has no experience doing so, and instead has spent her career advancing the interests of, and defending, large corporate employers," wrote a coalition of organizations working towards women's, gender, workers' and immigrants' rights.
I don't like people who go out of their way to be offended about one thing or another, whether they lean left or right. The EEOC has no business taking hold of this. They will, and should, lose in court.
What be- said.
” Kroger, like any employer, has or should have the right to require employees wear its uniforms.”
Even requiring a Jew to wear a swastika? It would be the same thing to someone that don’t believe in faggot rights.
This is a better account of what all this is about.
If the Jew to whom you refer does not want to wear the swastika he should not have to and can’t be forced to. He has every right to quit and seek employment elsewhere. Did I just repeat myself? I hate chewing my cabbage twice.
““We’re one of just a few retailers willing to openly advocate for and make real change toward LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion, and we’re proud to offer same-sex partner benefits and transgender-inclusive health care, an Associate Resource Group that provides an uplifting community for LGBTQ+ associates and allies, [and] strong alliances with LGBTQ+ suppliers through our partnership with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce,” it reads.
The company also provides a video of its participation in the Cincinnati Pride parade, where it had a unicorn float and offered unicorn ice cream. “
So if you are Jew you either happily let your employer put a swastika on you or lose your job?
Is this America or Nazi Germany?
“Kroger, like any employer, has or should have the right to require employees wear its uniforms. The employee has the right to quit and seek employment elsewhere.”
I get tired of having to point out to exceedingly ignorant folk around here such as yourself that PUBLICLY TRADED companies such as Kroger do NOT have the same right as individuals to hire and fire people at will.
These are entities that are OWNED by shareholders, NOT corporate executives who CANNOT illegally treat the PUBLIC companies they run as their own personal property.
Yes, YOU may hire someone to cut your yard and demand they dress a certain way or hire someone else. Publicly traded companies are regulated in how they may do so.
Stop with the false equivalency that companies like Kroger, Google, Apple, Facebook, etc. are no different than mom and pop shops and can be run at the whims of the board and upper management. They’re not the same.
If those running these companies want to advance a personal political agenda, let them do it with their own money, not the retirement accounts of millions of Americans.
Thanks. I missed that.
Still, I’m not changing my position. Anyone who objects to Kroger sucking up to gays doesn’t have to work at Kroger, and he certainly doesn’t have to shop there.
Kroger’s lip service support for gay rights doesn’t surprise me. Seems like more corporations do than don’t. Even Chick-Fil-A, if I’m not mistaken.
I see you’re still unlearning. And if you think your penchant for caps enhances your argument, it doesn’t. It detracts because no one wants to listen to overly-emotional girly-girls shouting at them
There is so much wrong with your argument that it would take hours to untangle. You ain’t worth it.
Geez, dude, pulling out the Hitler/Nazi outrageous over-the-top comparisons? You should know how, in almost any political argument, that cheapens your position.
And who said anything about being happy about it? If you’re suggesting I did, then you’re just making shit up.
Get a grip.
> PUBLICLY TRADED companies such as Kroger do NOT have the same right as individuals to hire and fire people at will <
I think you’re correct about that. But they SHOULD have those same rights.
I’m all about freedom. And that includes the freedom of some company to set up a stupid policy. If the employees don’t like it, they can quit. If the board of directors don’t like it, they can replace the CEO. And if the shareholders don’t like it, they can sell their shares.
“If the board of directors don’t like it, they can replace the CEO. And if the shareholders don’t like it, they can sell their shares.”
Exactly right.
“First of all, you brought up the swastika in your post #5. I didn’t.”
Go back and read the thread dim bulb. I didn’t bring up the swastika. I was responding to someone else who did.
I didn’t have to. Leaning Right did.
They'd much rather sue in court (as in this case), when the companies policies violate their civil rights (as in this case)
If the board of directors don’t like it, they can replace the CEO. And if the shareholders don’t like it, they can sell their shares.
The shareholders, who hold ultimate power, can get rid of deranged far left CEOs instead. Plus of course, customers can simply go buy from other grocery stores. It's not like there is anything unique about Kroger. They are just another grocery store.
All it will take is a tweet from Trump and their conservative costumers will head out the door.
After you had totally failed to address it and blustered instead.
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