Free Republic

It seems to be the controversial topic of the ages...only it has worsened since post-pandemic. It's the great remote work divide...also dubbed "The Great Return" and "The Great Office Return" by others. Although in theory, remote work has essentially been in existence for decades, it has only become a hot topic of late, and become aggravated even more, with the recent headline-grabbing strides of big-name employers who dared to mandate employees to return to office-based work (affectionately known as RTO)—or risk losing their jobs.

A federal jury has awarded $687,000 to a research scientist who was fired from BlueCross BlueShield in Tennessee for refusing to comply with the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.Tanja Benton, who had worked 16 years at the firm when she was fired, was awarded $177,240 in back pay, $10,000 in compensation, and $500,000 in punitive damages, according to a document made public by the federal court in eastern Tennessee on June 30.Company officials told Ms. Benton in August of 2021 that she would need to be “fully vaccinated” to keep her position, according to her lawsuit. Ms. Benton refused, saying aborted...

A Tennessee jury has awarded a former research scientist at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee $687,000 in back pay and damages after she was fired in 2021 for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.Following a three-day jury trial in Chattanooga last week, a federal jury decided BlueCross failed to provide reasonable accommodation for Tanja Benton, who did most of her work from home and claimed a religious exemption to the company's vaccine mandate. Chattanooga Attorney Doug S. Hamill, who represents Benton, said the biostatistical research scientist was fired in November 2021 in violation of her religious beliefs after working for the...

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Biden Campaign Co-Chair Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) stated that “there were some issues that should have been addressed” with the Afghanistan withdrawal, but the fact that 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump has been strongly critiqued by his own vice president and secretary of Defense “is far more alarming than what internal policy decisions Joe Biden made to discipline or not discipline folks” over the withdrawal.

It happened in February. It’s a video where a teacher, Warren Smith, is seen engaging in a conversation with a student who alleged that J.K. Rowling was transphobic. It quickly went viral. In less than five minutes, Smith, uncondescending, forces the student to rethink his position. The student admits he feels like an idiot after the pair discussed the phrasing and logical trajectory of the debate about the Harry Potter creator who has become persona non grata for her views on gender despite being an ardent leftist. This is utterly brilliant. A student accuses @jk_rowling of being transphobic. This teacher...

A Catholic school in North Carolina was within its legal rights to dismiss a substitute teacher because he was in a same-sex marriage, a federal appeals court ruled.A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that Charlotte Catholic High School could fire Lonnie Billard for marrying a man.Circuit Judge Pamela Harris, an Obama appointee, authored the majority opinion, concluding that the Catholic school was protected by the "ministerial exception," noting that Billard's employment involved an inherently religious element."We conclude that the school entrusted Billard with 'vital religious duties,' making him a 'messenger' of its...

Fired CNN primetime host Don Lemon will reportedly receive approximately $24.5 million as part of a separation deal with the news network nearly a year after his exit. The settlement equals the amount that Lemon, 57, would have been paid had he been allowed to stay on at CNN through the end of his contract three-and-a-half years from the time of his firing, the Wrap reported. Lemon was axed from CNN in April after his brief and tumultuous run as a morning show co-host by then-CEO Chris Licht, who was later booted himself. Lemon’s ouster came just two months after...

CBS News has returned the notes it seized from a high-profile reporter the network fired for 'investigating Hunter Biden' .. ... SAG-AFTRA, the CBS workers' union, called the seizure of her notes 'completely inappropriate' and 'very unusual'. ... CBS News has returned the notes it seized from a high-profile reporter the network fired for 'investigating Hunter Biden.' Catherine Herridge, a veteran reporter covering national security and intelligence, was among the hundreds of CBS employees who were laid off by parent company Paramount last week. Herridge covered investigations into the Biden family, and the network seized her personal notes after her...

Below is my column in The Hill on the trouble brewing at CBS over the seizure of the files of acclaimed investigative reporter Catherine Herridge. The column broke the story on the uproar over not just her being laid off but her being locked out from her files. I am now hearing from CBS sources that the network is moving toward a resolution to turn over the files after the outcry. However, the concerns over Herridge’s firing and the network’s handling of her confidential notes continues to draw fire from journalists and commentators. The union issued a statement (below) after...

As we reported, Catherine Herridge was fired from CBS during a bloodbath of them cutting hundreds of employees. Her firing got the most attention because of her excellence in reporting and the suggestion that it was more than just a layoff when it came to her being let go, just after she'd been reporting on the Hur Report. That suspicion grew louder when it was learned that CBS had also seized Herridge's files, computers, and records, which included her "privileged sources." According to George Washington law professor Jonathan Turley: "The timing of Herridge’s termination immediately raised suspicions in Washington. She...

South Carolina wants to bring back the firing squad and the electric chair as the state argues that “painless” deaths are not mandated. Among the 33 prisoners on death row in the Palmetto State, four inmates are arguing that the electric chair and firing squad are cruel and unusual punishments. The inmates also claim a 2023 law that allows lethal injections is too secretive about many details of the new drug. However, the governor of the Palmetto State disagrees, saying all three methods fit the existing protocol and painless executions are not mandated by law. “Courts have never held the...

A Christian teaching assistant in the United Kingdom who claimed he was fired for street preaching in his free time won the equivalent of a nearly $9,000 legal settlement in a case against his former employer.Lawyers representing Andy Nix at the Christian Legal Centre announced Thursday that their client secured a £7,000 legal settlement with Temple Moor High School in Leeds. Nix says he was discriminated against for his Christian beliefs and fired for having preached in Leeds City Centre in July 2021.Nix was arrested on July 6, 2021, after being on the scene in Leeds City Centre with Dave...

Rocket and satellite maker SpaceX on Thursday sued a U.S. labor board to block its case accusing the company of illegally firing employees who sent a letter to company executives calling CEO Elon Musk “a distraction and embarrassment.” SpaceX in the lawsuit filed in Brownsville, Texas federal court claims the structure of the National Labor Relations Board(NLRB), which issued a complaint against the company on Wednesday, violates the U.S. Constitution. The NLRB alleges SpaceX violated federal labor law by firing eight workers in 2022 for signing onto the letter, which accused Musk of making sexist comments that went against company...

The Philadelphia Police Department’s first diversity, equity, and inclusion officer was fired Tuesday morning, shortly before the swearing-in of Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel and Mayor Cherelle Parker, police said. Leslie Marant, who began her job in April 2022, was fired by then-acting Commissioner John M. Stanford at a 10:30 a.m. meeting, who said that Bethel would be restructuring the department and would no longer need her services, a source with knowledge of the dismissal said. Marant, 57, declined to comment. The Police Department declined to give the specific reasons for the job termination or to make Bethel and Stanford available...

In the latest example of corporate stupidity, three sporting goods employees were fired for chasing a man who stole a pistol. Apparently, trying to stop someone from stealing a deadly weapon is against company policy. This is yet another story in which a major company punishes employees for trying to protect it from entitled thugs who think they have the right to take what they want.Michelle Sutton, along with two other unidentified workers at the Academy Sports + Outdoors in Metairie, Louisiana, said that the shoplifting incident happened Dec. 16.The sales associates said that they thought they were about to...

It must just be the loveliest thing in the world, to be a Democrat. To be conscience-free and able to live in a reality you can manipulate and fashion to suit the moment and your needs at the snap of a finger.Here's the video with the Cardona clip in the middle fixed. If we let them get away with rewriting history, they won't hesitate to do the same thing again. pic.twitter.com/6Ul7hRwkH8— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) September 29, 2023Well…huh.I don’t remember it quite like that. In fact, no where, no way was it like that.POTATUS was up there – whispering, snarling, ranting...

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina took a harsher stance toward striking autoworkers Monday than many of his fellow Republican presidential candidates, saying it did not make sense for workers to want higher pay for shorter workweeks and noting approvingly that President Ronald Reagan had fired federal employees for striking. “I think Ronald Reagan gave us a great example when federal employees decided they were going to strike,” Scott said at a campaign event in Iowa, in response to a voter who had asked whether he would “insert” himself into the United Auto Workers talks as president. “He said, ‘You...

Biology Professor Fired for Teaching…Biology A Texas biology professor fired for what attorneys say were "standard principles about human biology and reproduction" has filed a complaint against his former employer. Dr. Johnson Varkey, a former adjunct professor at St. Philip's College in San Antonio, filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) after he was fired in January in response to what the community college said were "numerous complaints" about a lesson he taught last fall on human biology, according to Plano-based First Liberty Institute. The complaint — which accused Varkey of "religious preaching, discriminatory...

A 68-year-old woman was fired from her job at Lowe’s because she tried to stop shoplifters from stealing merchandise. She pursued them outside the store, which is against company policy. She was struck in the face three times by one of the thieves, leaving her with her right eye blackened and swollen. Instead of being made Employee of the Month and thanked for her diligence on behalf of the company, she was fired. The shoplifting incident happened in Rincon, Georgia on June 25. Three suspects stole about $2,100 worth of merchandise. She left the store and grabbed the shopping cart...

Earlier this month, talk show host and former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage wrote an editorial in The Telegraph titled, “After my banking travails, I fear Britain is lost,” detailing his nightmare experiences with NatWest, one of Britain’s biggest banks. Farage told the tale of his accounts being deleted and his friends, family, and business associates being harassed for their political beliefs.PJ Media’s Athena Thorne covered Farage’s allegations.He goes on to detail his financial ostracization as bank after bank refused to accept his business, and he gives examples of other politicians — always conservative — to whom it has also...