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So has anyone posted the meme that got him in trouble? Nobody defending this guy could claim that as light political jabbing. That was hate speech. Everyone is a human. All of us. You don't get to pick and choose. It's fantastic to see big name companies and even small local's reach out like they have been.

 NobodyXY wrote:
So has anyone posted the meme that got him in trouble?

I think it's either been posted/spoilered, or been linked to.... Probably doesn't need to be posted again.

Its not that I don't understand your point of view or your argument, it is that I don't agree with it in some capacity

 TheMeanDM wrote:
Its not that I don't understand your point of view or your argument, it is that I don't agree with it in some capacity

As long as we are not talking past each other

The main reason I don't feel bad about their situation is that they knew the rules when they signed the contract and agreed to follow them. If it was a random bloke fired from a random job I might feel differently.

That is, of course, if there was that kind of a clause in their contracts.

;-)

If there isn't than I'd imagine their agents will be negotiating the buy out.

 Polonius wrote:
If there isn't than I'd imagine their agents will be negotiating the buy out.

That's the crux of it right there and is what should end the thread. Either they were rightfully fired based on their contracts, in which case, bad on them. Get a new job. Or they were wrongfully fired in which case they will likely get more through litigation then they would have ever received in their original contract.

 Polonius wrote:
Honestly, a mental health assessment prior to any major medical process probably isn't a bad idea.

But I'm not one to shy away from mental health care. I can see why people want to avoid the stigma. Me? I proudly told the world that I'm actually fully sane!

I can't speak for the entire US, but I know some states have informed consent to start hormones followed by a minimum requirement of 1) living as the opposite gender for 1 year and 2) taking hormones for the same duration to even be approved for surgery. It's not an easy road at all.

We could also get into the discussion that for most of us who don't have the luxury of having an actual contract, the reality of at-will employment can have us looking at the same kind of situation.

If you are an at-will employee in a state with pretty low labor laws, you can be fired by your boss because he doesn't like what you post on Facebook. They can't fire you for a number of protected reasons, but other than those few reasons everything is fair game.

Doesn't like that you post pictures of yourself playing beer bong on the weekend? Fired.
Doesn't like that you shared that Obama meme? Fired.
Doesn't like that you felt the Bern? Fired.
Doesn't like that you are into cross-stitching? Fired.

With these guys, sure....if it were in their contracts amd the languages of said contract is subjective enough that comments like Ditka's can warrant him losing his job (they were far, far less controversial than Schilling, I feel)....then the conpany is within their right (however I may dislike it).

However....

For schleps like you and me who do not work under such specific contracts...what is to stop our employers from terminating our employment based on our own personal views and self expression?

I think that is what....scares?....me the most.

If I were a lever pulling factory worker...how would my expressing, on FB, that Obama is a reptillian alien bent on world conquest compromise my ability to continue my lever pulling to make widgets?

It wouldn't.

But it would seem that, in your view, my employer would be justified in firing me---even though my alien conspiracy theory has never interfered with my ability to make widgets or the companies bottom mine.

I realize that in many states employers can fire without cause (I believe these are "rigjt to work" states.). It just really concerns me that our jobs can apparently hold SO MUCH sway over us to the point where we are afraid to express ourselves in...well...any manner that may be even slightly out of "line" to their completely subjective sensibilities.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
**ninja'd by d-usa! :-) ) **

Seems like you need to join a union

 Gordon Shumway wrote:
Seems like you need to join a union

What are you, some kinda socialist? Why do you hate America?

 Gordon Shumway wrote:
Seems like you need to join a union

Honestly, I would love to establish/join a nurse's union.

The problem is, as some of the longer term people I work with have mentioned, the people who ever spoke a whiff of joing or starting a union always seemed to lose their job for one reason or another.

 TheMeanDM wrote:

 Gordon Shumway wrote:
Seems like you need to join a union

Honestly, I would love to establish/join a nurse's union.

The problem is, as some of the longer term people I work with have mentioned, the people who ever spoke a whiff of joing or starting a union always seemed to lose their job for one reason or another.

Do you live in a right to work state?

And I am in a "right to work" state...so...the employers hold all the cards....

 TheMeanDM wrote:

The problem is, as some of the longer term people I work with have mentioned, the people who ever spoke a whiff of joing or starting a union always seemed to lose their job for one reason or another.

I seem to recall nurses in my home state having a union... and striking because their pay wasn't high enough (let's be honest, from the stories my sister in law tells, they aren't in general)... but they didn't really have public support when it came out how much they were asking for. IIRC, with scaling for time, they quickly earned more money than the doctors they worked "under."


Of course, it does seem odd to me you mention people even mentioning the "U" word being fired. That just seems fishy as feth (not from you, from the employer). I mean, I'd be taking a very hard look at my employer if that were going on where I worked, and I suspect I'd find some stuff that would raise a few eyebrows, to say the least.

When you live in a rural area, good paying jobs are hard to come by.

I made a little more at my previous hospital, like $2/hr more...but it was also an 80 mile / day commute.

Sure...nurses in a neighboring state make about $10/hr (from what we hear)...but again...we're talking really long commute (at least 90 miles one way).

Indeed....employers in right to work states hold the power.

Certainly, we would like to be paid more...but just as important to us is our patient load. It has become more common for us to carry 4 and 5 patients....which when the patients have alot of needs, can be extremely challenging.

Our concern with those loads is SAFETY. We are human. We get overwhelmed. All manner of things can happen when you get a jeavy load of "busy" patients. When you have fewer patients to concentrate your attention on there is much less of a chance of megative things happening, or of being "caught" before they spiral out of control.

That just makes sense.

Also...our leadership is so insanely focused on providing a "woe" experience for the patient in the hospital. They want us to be the kind of place that everyone raves about and recommends.

They won't get that feeling if they are one of six patients and need to wait an extra 10 minutes to go to the bathroom because their nurse or aide is trying to appease 5 other people who all want to go to the bathroom at the same time...

We bring this up in our meetings with leadership...but it falls on deaf ears....

So anyway...in a nutshell....hard to find as good a job in these kind of areas :(

It's illegal to fire anyone because they want to start a union.

it is not illegal to fire anyone because you don't like the way they tie their shoes.

So if they fire you because you attempt to form a union, you need to be able to prove that this is what they actually fired you for. They just have to prove that you were a few minutes late for your shift, somebody complained about you once, you passed your meds 5 minutes late, you misplaced a patients slippers from home, or any other number of reasons to show that they didn't fire you for a prohibited reason.

You have rights, but the burden of proof is just stacked hugely in the favor of the employers.

I live in a Right to Work state, we also have one of the biggest Nurses Unions in the country. It is possible, the Hospital I used to work at unionized about a year after I left. It is just very very hard to do.

 Polonius wrote:
Honestly, a mental health assessment prior to any major medical process probably isn't a bad idea.

But I'm not one to shy away from mental health care. I can see why people want to avoid the stigma. Me? I proudly told the world that I'm actually fully sane!

The reason people are averse to blanket mental health assessment for trans patients is that being transgender is no longer classed as a mental illness or "Gender Identity Disorder".

I am in favor of assessment before any major surgery, it's just that classification brings its own stigma.

You can't claim to be a libertarian or "libertarianish" (as so much of the right does now that "conservative" or "Republican" has become a toxic self-label) and still support the notion that a private business can't fire someone for any fething reason they like. They can, and that should be celebrated, not used as a complaint when it's politically convenient to do so. There should be fewer restrictions on when you can fire somebody, not more, and "protecting contrary viewpoints" shouldn't be one of them in the first place.

I say that because Schilling's flirted with the label before, and because there are probably a few posters in this thread who are going to go on and make libertarian arguments about something else when the next hot button issue pops up.

Leave OG libertarian hipsters like Kurt Russell and myself to our own devices if one of the basic tenets of the philosophy is not to your liking, damnit.

 TheMeanDM wrote:


For schleps like you and me who do not work under such specific contracts...what is to stop our employers from terminating our employment based on our own personal views and self expression?

I think that is what....scares?....me the most.

Yes, it is scary. However, right now there is no First Amendment protection from your employer. They can fire you for your views and speech. The First Amendment only protects you from Government sanction, not private sanction.

There are some laws that protect employee vs. employer interactions, mostly involving Union organizing and protected classes. However, for the most part as an employee you have very little legal protection from your employer firing you over your views or speech.

There is a lot of power differential between employer and employee. That's part of the problem and part of the reason the middle class is disappearing.

Precisely!

I am a great nurse. I am consistently mentioned multiple times in patient surveys and callbacks for the great care and compassion I give my patients.

However, my fear would be that should I (or really any of us) try to organize...we would be let go for even the smallest of offenses.

Rock meet hard place :-P

If true, ESPN is also a big bag of dicks...

Curt Schilling not happy ‘bloody sock’ game cut from Red Sox-Yankees ‘30 for 30’

 whembly wrote:
If true, ESPN is also a big bag of dicks...

Curt Schilling not happy ‘bloody sock’ game cut from Red Sox-Yankees ‘30 for 30’

So a company who fired an employee is distancing themselves from him? Wow, no way.....