Posted on 10/11/2002 10:16:23 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
ST. PETERSBURG -- Vincent Bonnain, a lifelong construction worker, had finally found a job indoors that he liked, working as a telemarketer.
Things seemed to be going well until lunchtime Wednesday, his second day on the job, when he was abruptly told he was fired.
The problem: the Confederate flag tattoo on Bonnain's forearm, along with the tattooed words, "Born a rebel, die a rebel." Apparently the tattoo didn't sit well with the mortgage refinancing company he was working for.
"I really enjoyed my job. I told them, "I'll cover it up. I'll wear long-sleeved shirts. I'll have it removed.' They said, "No, no way,' " said Bonnain, 43, of St. Petersburg. "I'm not a racist. Years and years ago, I got a tattoo. It's part of my heritage. There's nothing derogatory about it."
For 1 1/2 days, Bonnain was a phone solicitor for Mortgage Investors Corp., which refinances VA and FHA loans. From the company's headquarters at 6090 Central Ave., Bonnain would call veterans across the country and pitch the company's streamlined refinancing to them, trying to set up appointments for regional sales representatives.
Company officials would not comment on Bonnain's firing.
"From a legal standpoint, generally we do not talk about terminations," said Dick Blyler, chief corporate counsel for the company.
Bonnain says no one mentioned his faded tattoo before he was fired. He feels that his First Amendment rights are being violated. He's looking for an attorney.
Unfortunately for Bonnain, he probably has few legal options, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
"If he's a telemarketer talking to people on the telephone, and he's got a tattoo, how does that affect his ability to do the job?" said Randall Marshall, legal director for the ACLU of Florida.
"But in Florida, essentially you can be fired for any reason or for no reason at all, as long as it doesn't violate any clearly established laws," Marshall said. "The First Amendment only protects you from government action, and here you've got a private employer."
Bonnain was making $9 an hour, with a $20 bonus if an appointment resulted in a refinancing. He said an injury on a previous job left him too disabled to work construction anymore.
The next time a telemarketer calls me I will tell them I have a tattoo and I'm sure thet don't want to do business with me.
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I believe the ACLU would show a little more interest in a case like that than they did with this one.
(Gee, y'think?)
What a wimp.
No, protecting himself legally, showing his flexibility and willingness to work with these cultural snots.
Guess he forgot to show them his new Oldsmobile, his Bill Blass suits, and his tennis-club membership. And his BBA degree. Then he'd have fit in.
Florida may be an employment-at-will state, but they can't fire you for voting Republican or showing Dixiecrat colors. There are still some things they can't do. They can't make you vote right, not vote, or live in substandard company quarters. ACLU needs to get off its duff and start whipping up a Fourteenth Amendment/First Amendment case.
Yeah, and those "clearly established laws" protect certain classes of people. Try to fire one of them "for any reason or for no reason at all" and you're looking at a lawsuit.
The only way this guy will get the equal protection to which he is entitled is to have a "clearly established law" protecting a white guy with a tattoo.
The ACLU is right for once.
Florida may be an employment-at-will state, but they can't fire you for voting Republican or showing Dixiecrat colors.
They can't? If its an employment-at-will state, you can be fired 'cause they don't like the way you color-coordinate your slacks and shirt. IOW, any reason (except very specific, civil rights-based criteria). And, a tat doesn't fall into that category.
A good friend of mine in Texas recently was fired because he "looked insolently" at the boss one day. That was the OFFICIAL reason given for his termination. His attorney told him that he didn't have a leg to stand on either - no unemployment insurance, no nothing.
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