what happened to all the freedom and Constitution touting from Republicans here? Surely her former employer knows that people have a Constitutional right to vote for whoever they want. Besides, why was it any of this guy's business anyway?

Meaning that an employer can fire you for just about any stupid reason, so long as it isn't blatantly discriminatory (race, sex, etc.).

They can fire you even if they don't like the color shirt you're wearing.

(And that's not hyperbole--see here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/elizabeth-r-wellborn-pa_n_1363609.html )

It's a ridiculous law, yet almost universally accepted.

Some localities have laws against termination based on political affiliation or identity, but I don't believe there's a national law to that extent. Let's hope that such a law exists where this woman works.

Let's cross our fingers.

They also failed to pay her overtime which is a violation of federal law.

"The suit also said Kunkle was paid $12 per hour, was not paid overtime for hours she worked in excess of 40 hours and is not exempt from OT pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act."

Just a bad company run by bad people.

Unfortunately, political identity is not a universally accepted grounds of actionable discrimination yet, so she's at the mercy of where she lives.

elsewhere.

He started by telling us that if we didn't vote Republican, we'd all lose our jobs.

In Ohio.

Holy crap did he ever get in trouble.

First off, it was a unionized shop, and as soon as he started talking politics almost everyone got up and left.

He tried to stop us, but we told him politics was a 'no-no' to base a meeting on and he couln't stop us from leaving, and if he didn't like it, to call the local and complain to a business rep.

Second was when a mandatory meeting was called by the employer which for some employees was off the schedule for them, which violated terms of our contract for 'off-the-clock' work, and demanded that they got paid for their time (four hour minimum for a 'call-in' from the employer)...after we filed a grievance with the local, and they in turn also turned it over to Wage and Hour.

I'm sure that they are aware of that statute but the quotes attributed to them talk about their hope of creating an exception and making "new law." Sounds like the plaintiff is not in the strongest legal position.

Other things on their To-Do list:

Fire any employee

• who expects government help in the form of Social Security;


• who does not shout "under God" when saying the Pledge;


• who does not cover his/her heart when singing the national anthem;


• who is not a registered Republican;


• who does not get all of their news from Fox;


• who is gay;


• who is atheist;


• who is female;


• whose skin is too dark.

is your right to keep your vote to yourself. That's why cameras, reporters etc are not allowed in polling places, and there are privacy booths. No one has the right to insist you reveal your vote. A bit of common sense would have gone a long way here. Seems to me the plaintiff in this case was daring the company to fire her. Perhaps she already knew her days were numbered. In any case, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

BTW, wherever did you get the idea that this is a non-totalitarin society? When peaceful demonstrators are tear gassed, a city can order the cell phone service for a specific location be blocked, or the police can demand your cell phone records and the carriers do regular dumps, that doesn't indicate a 'free society to me'

but consider people in small towns where a sign in their yard is all their boss/neighbor needs in order to know how they voted.

This has happened to people I know (in red states with at will employment). So now they don't put signs up. Seems restrictive to me, but I'm no lawyer.

Many communities don't allow signs in the yards...property values don'cha know? That's also restrictive. I think signs are not as valuable as they once were, there are so many ways to get the message out there. Of course, employers can always look at FB pages. People destroy their own privacy and then become indignant when they pay the price for it.

I agree that they should know better, but on the other hand, I mourn that people have to hide their affiliations for fear of retaliation.

Imagine if Democrats were firing conservatives for this. We'd never hear the end of the howls don't tread on me etc.

or there wouldn't be laws protecting your right to keep your vote to yourself.

I agree that in today's climate it's the conservatives behaving badly....At other times in our history it has been Dems behaving badly.

the world of totalitarianism. This was the world of the old Stalinist Soviet Era or Fascist Europe. The ability to informally say one's opinion without fear of retribution is as basic a right as one can possibly imagine. Those that challenge attempts to squash freedom are the one's who protect it for all of us. Perhaps Mrs. Parks should have quietly given up her seat. But she just had to make a big fuss. It is those who are willing to make a big fuss that keep us free to the extent that we are free.

serves only to diminish what Mrs. Parks accomplished and her courage. Mrs. Parks made no attempt to sue the bus company for 'damages'

As I said, it will be interesting to see how this plays out, because there are a lot of people who have made their political affiliations known on Facebook, and employers have been looking at BF for years.

Defending one's right to casually and informally express their opinion without the slightest fear of retribution is as basic a human right as one can possibly imagine and is every bit as basic a human right as the right of African-Americans to be free from discrimination. Defending the right to have an opinion and express that opinion in an informal setting with the people they are around goes to the absolute core of what it would mean to live in anything even pretending to be a free society. It is beyond my conception that anyone raised in a western democracy would not know that.

why don't we wait to see how this plays out in court?

informally express their opinion in their work environment does not have a clue what it means to live as a free people. It is shocking that anyone in a western democracies does not already know that and would be prepared to surrender that fundamental human right and consider it not that important. The Orwellian world may be arriving if even on a progressive discussion forum there are those who don't hold this right sacred.

yea, if she's only stayed in the closet / worn the burqa / didn't dress so slutty / hadn't been asking for it / made her politics known she wouldn't have gotten canned. Uppity democrats, what do they expect?

We are talking about the issue of keeping your vote private...Why do you think they have privacy booths at the polling places?

I never said I didn't want her to win this case, although I'm not certain how they will go about proving she was fired simply for voting for Obama. If Ohio wrote their right to work laws along the same lines as Florida's, the employer may be unable to prove there was any other cause. FL law says an employer does not have to give you a reason for your dismissal.

If her case turns out to be a weak, it can hamper future attempts to stop employers from using this as a weapon.

I hope she's able to find another place to work. My boss is a republican, lucky for me she respects differing views!

does federal defense contracting with WPAFB in Dayton. Check their contract with the Air Force. I am positive it says partisan politics is NOT to be a part of company decisions. I know, Ive seen about a billion of these contracts while at Wright-Patt. Ergo, this company can very well lose their contract with the Base.

All these owners that did this need a reality check. Hopefully she'll win.

and gender, why is it legal to discriminate on anything else that doesn't affect job performance?

legalized discrimination...but it is difficult to prove that it wasn't poor job performance that led to the termination. This case is important for so many reasons, not the least of which is FB and the way so many people post their lives on it and so many employers read, or have someone else, read those posts.

But if it goes badly for the plaintiff it will hamper future attempts to stop lousy employers from abusing their position in this regard. What may work in her favor is the statement by the employer that Obama supporters would be the first to go. However, our judicial system is nothing if not arbitrary.

I don't know what that means "American Just Us" Would you mind explaining?

of mine whom I had met around the Quakers and who was doing family service work with families of prisoners and ex-cons. I went to Juneteenth with her and was filling my time, wandering around as I socialized, by asking people if I could ask them a question, which was "What is justice?" Several people, women, now that I think about it and recall, tried to talk about it a little (that's not surprising since there were several service oriented booths there and those people were probably more used to talking about things). A couple of times people said, simply, "Just us." I had to think about it for a couple of hours, but I feel pretty certain that they were referring to how justice is for sale in the USA, so it's only for those who can afford it.

That sounds about right. I knew it had to be something that indicated how little justice is available to the AA community. That's a really clever way of saying it too! I'll have to remember it.

We have so many really serious problems in this county...I become quite discouraged sometimes.

I wouldn't want stupid, malignant people working for me

Last edited Wed Feb 20, 2013, 11:32 PM - Edit history (1)

I cannot imagine anything worse than living in a society where one's political ideology was a litmus test in determining someone's employment. That sounds like the earlier days of Communist Eastern Europe or Fascist Western Europe in the 30's or in more recent times - Iran when the Mullah's first came to power.

I don't know why any nice person who is reasonably intelligent would be a Republicans - but I know several and have known several over the years. It boggles my mind. But there is more to life than just politics. If I had a business and unless the business was political consulting for people of specific political leanings - I would no more care what their politics were (perhaps short of being something like a Nazi or Klansman) than care what their race, color, religion or sexual orientation was. I would simply want people who could and would do their jobs and be able to work with others. I have had managers and coworkers who were Republicans who great bosses or coworkers and I have had managers and coworkers who were Democrats who were terrible bosses or coworkers and of course vice versa. The goodness of one's heart, their functioning common sense, their work ethic and their ability and willingness to work with others has no more to do with one's political ideology than their race, color, religion or sexual orientation.

You never, ever let anyone know whom you're voting for, esp. if your employer is a brain-dead neo-clown. That's like working for a hard-line Catholic, and asking for time off because you're having an abortion.

defending the right of someone to casually and informally express their opinions in their work environment. To not fight for that right is to surrender to a new dark age of a Orwellian culture. Perhaps 1984 is coming - but just a few decades late.