Home Depot Fires Man for "One Nation Under God" Button
A Florida man is planning to sue hardware giant The Home Depot, after he was fired from his cashier job for wearing a pin that said "One Nation Under God, indivisible." "I was just doing what I think every American should do, just love my country," Trevor Keezer said.
Keezer said he started wearing the button to the store in Okeechobee, Florida in March 2008. He said no one every said anything. But when he started bringing a Bible to work last month and reading it during his lunch break, Keezer said his bosses told him he would have to remove the button. When he refused, Keezer was fired.
"It feels kind of like a punishment, like I was punished for just loving my country," Keezer said.
But The Home Depot disputes that, saying he was fired for violating the company's dress code.
"This associate chose to wear a button that expressed his religious beliefs. The issue is not whether or not we agree with the message on the button," spokesman Craig Fishel said. "That's not our place to say, which is exactly why we have a blanket policy, which is long-standing and well-communicated to our associates, that only company-provided pins and badges can be worn on our aprons."
Fishel said Keezer was offered a company-approved pin that said, "United We Stand," but he declined. Keezer said said he wore the button to honor his country and his brother, who is in the National Guard and is set to report in December for a second tour of duty in Iraq.
Keezer has retained a lawyer, and is planning on suing The Home Depot. "There are federal and state laws that protect against religious discrimination," attorney Kara Skorupa said. "It's not like he was out in the aisles preaching to people."
Skorupa points out the button was a direct quote from the very American Pledge of Allegiance. "These mottos and sayings that involve God, that's part of our country and historical fabric. In God we trust is on our money."
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He knew the rules required for the job. He broke the rules and he was fired . Those are the breaks.
Why after wearing the "One Nation Under God, indivisible" pin for over a year did Home Depot decide after this guy brought his bible to work to give him a hard time over the button??
Company pin policy or not it seems to me that this isn't even about the pin as much as his reading his bible on company property. And if Home Depot decides to fight this kid's suit I believe they will lose and big time. Any decent attorney is going to bring up the timing of the companies harassment AFTER the bible was brought into work.
What has happened in this nation? A nation founded on religious principals, a nation whose founding fathers fought for religious freedoms?
This isn't (or shouldn't be) about one religion over another it is about expressing your beliefs. I don't understand what everyone is so damn afraid of.
He was proselytizing. If he truly loved his county and wanted to honor it or American soldiers then a button "United We Stand", "One Nation indivisble", or "E Pluribus Unum" would be appropriate. His button is divisive and a lie. We are not One Nation, under any god or gods.
The company has a dress code, just because he is foolish enough to be religious does not entitle him to ignore that dress code.
I believe that a company has a right to expect that its employees always represent their employer in the best possible light. After all, this is why they pay you to work. If those terms are unacceptable turn down the money & go work elsewhere. Amusingly, this is the turning point where so many militants turn into sell-outs who stay put, turn bitter and sue.
I also have to say that it is certain that the atheists on this site also proselytize their beliefs. Just read some of the "passionate" postings on this topic. Why do you all act like a bunch of Christian zealots & then complain when the Christians are only acting the same way to you? You sue, you picket, you argue too. "Passion" seems to has become a idiom for jerk on this posting.
Look, if you want to win people over to your ideas you don't go calling them names. It is not necessarily a delusion if someone believes in something you don't. People need to respect people of difference and I am saying this as a gay man who remembers what life was like for queers before the Christopher St riots.
One thing I learned from those days is that I want freedom not an excuse for a bar fight. There is no freedom if you can't believe in your religion . How then can I be free not to believe? Of course, the reverse is true too.
Please remember that so much much of what drives social issues comes from politicians who are not interested in resolving the issues and bringing peace to our communities but rather want to jack up their respective bases in order to win a job in the state assembly.
In the article it states "company-provided" and in the next line it states "company-approved". The wording of said manual at the time of his dismissal will be his best defense. Remember that Home Depot is a national company publicly traded with stores nation-wide.
If only "company-provided" pins are stated within the manual as acceptable, he may lose his argument, unless it is proven that others anywhere else in Home Depot's stores nationwide can be found to testify that in other stores employees wear pins other than "company-provided" pins. If so, he was discriminated against.
If the policy manual says "company-approved pins" then I would argue that the Company manager (therefore the "company") "approved" of his pins by failure to act sooner than Now. (assuming Now is his future dismissal date, a fact not given in the article above.) Again, he wins by improper dismissal.
Home depot will not allow this to get to the to court because Okeechobee city is a very tight-knit small town. People there will boycot the place out of spite. I know the store, and the city fokes there. You don't mess with the elders in a small town like this. They are usually someone's Grandpa or cousin on the County Commission Board that hands out business permits. Sometimes, who-you-know beats being right in the public arena.
doesn't violate any laws. Since the Home Depot is private property, they can make whatever rules they choose, provided they don't violate any laws.
The guy violated the rules, and he got fired . This isn't a matter of religious discrimination , it's a matter of a guy refusing to adhere to the policies of his employer.
God doesn't seem to be helping Mr. Keezer too much, what's with that? Maybe He dosn't exist?
Times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress.
I would suggest that you explain things to us...I know you can because you obviously know everything - absolutely everything. I feel safe knowing you are on the planet and will help us poor ignorant beings to understand the truth.
Why don't you tell us what you think? If God's all powerful and this guy stood up for Him then why's he out of work right now? For that matter where was God during Auschwitz?
Times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress.
First, when he was hired he was informed of company policy.
Second, when he wanted to wear the button he could have petitioned the company to have the button declared acceptable - there is nothing that says that he did that.
Third, he raised the issue higher when started to bring a Bible to work. If it were demonstrated (and nothing was said about this) that he proselytized to customers and/or co- workers during hours that he should have been working, the firing was 100% justified.