Religions > Atheism > Attorney: Fired Allstate Employee's Trial Carries Implications for Religious Freedom
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"RoB WAde" |
| Date: |
02 Aug 2005 04:09:22 PM |
| Object: |
Attorney: Fired Allstate Employee's Trial Carries Implications for Religious Freedom |
Attorney: Fired Allstate Employee's Trial Carries Implications for
Religious Freedom
Jim Brown
Posted on 07/20/2005 7:57:26 AM PDT by Woodland
Attorney: Fired Allstate Employee's Trial Carries Implications for
Religious Freedom
By Jim Brown July 19, 2005
(AgapePress) - There's a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday (July 20) in
the case of a former Allstate employee who claims the insurance company
fired him for writing an article against homosexual "marriage." The
outcome of the case will likely determine whether a Christian employee
can be fired for expressing his religious beliefs while off the job.
Former Allstate security manager Matt Barber recently filed a federal
lawsuit against the company, alleging viewpoint discrimination. An
investigation by the state of Illinois concluded that Barber was
terminated because an "outside organization" complained about an
article he wrote on his own time. The article defending traditional
marriage appeared on several conservative Internet sites. (See earlier
article)
Barber's attorney, Matt Davis, says there is a great deal riding on the
outcome of the case.
"As we get more and more politically correct in our society, [large]
employers like Allstate [that employ] literally hundreds of thousands
....are beginning to try to 'mellow out' the message that not only they
make as a corporation, but then also then what is reflected amongst
their employees," the attorney says, adding that he sees irony in the
situation. "Here you have a company, in the name of tolerance,
exercising an extreme degree of intolerance."
Since the state investigation, Allstate has backed off its original
claim and is arguing Barber was not fired because of his conservative
views. Davis says the Fortune 100 company is backpedaling.
"It would be one thing if you had a manager disseminating this kind of
information to his employees and misusing the company systems or
somehow on company time espousing views that they don't agree with.
That would be one thing," he says. "But here we're talking about a guy
from his home computer who takes a position from the Bible that he
believes, and the company reaching into his living room and saying, 'We
don't agree with that -- you're outta here.'"
Allstate has been a strong supporter of same-sex marriage by giving
thousands of dollars in donations to homosexual activist groups.
According to the American Family Association, Allstate gave $10,000 to
the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a homosexual
organization which promotes homosexual marriage; $5,000 to the Indiana
University office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student
Support Services; and $15,000 to the Gay & Lesbian Center in Los
Angeles. AFA says Allstate also supports homosexual websites with
advertising dollars.
In addition, the insurance company was listed by Diversity Inc.
recently in its "Top 10 Companies for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and
Transgender Employees." Joining Allstate on that list were such
household names as Eastman Kodak, Ford Motor Company, Citigroup,
Pepsico, Merck and Company, and the Coca-Cola Company.
.
|
|
| User: "" |
|
| Title: Re: Attorney: Fired Allstate Employee's Trial Carries Implications for Religious Freedom |
03 Aug 2005 07:16:55 AM |
|
|
RoB WAde, xian troll and hatemonger wrote:
Attorney: Fired Allstate Employee's Trial Carries Implications for
Religious Freedom
By Jim Brown July 19, 2005
(AgapePress) - There's a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday (July 20) in
the case of a former Allstate employee who claims the insurance company
fired him for writing an article against homosexual "marriage."
Nothing in the article gives the crucial information:
did the fired employee claim to speak in Allstate's
name, or try to talk about their policy as an employee
of the company? That's the most important point.
If he wrote claiming to be an Allstate employee, then
***** him (metaphorically, of course) and his hate, but
if he solely wrote in his own name, on his own time,
with no reference to Allstate, then the insurance
company better have insurance against lawsuits.
Bob Dog
Atheist #153 = 1^3 + 5^3 + 3^3
EAC's chief cook and brainwasher
-----
"You won't find any opposition to the idea of evolution among
sophisticated, educated theologians. It comes from an
exceedingly retarded, primitive version of religion, which
unfortunately is at present undergoing an epidemic in the
United States."
- Richard Dawkins
.
|
|
|
|
| User: "Hugo S. Cunningham" |
|
| Title: Re: Attorney: Fired Allstate Employee's Trial Carries Implications for Religious Freedom |
03 Aug 2005 01:31:53 PM |
|
|
[NGs
nyc.transit,az.general,alt.tv.simpsons,alt.tv.law-and-order,soc.bi,
rec.scouting.issues,soc.culture.jewish dropped. Too many crossposts
may have been holding up propagation of my earlier answer.]
On 2 Aug 2005 14:09:22 -0700, "RoB WAde" <rob_c_wade_1@yahoo.com>
wrote:
Attorney: Fired Allstate Employee's Trial Carries Implications for
Religious Freedom
Jim Brown
Posted on 07/20/2005 7:57:26 AM PDT by Woodland
Attorney: Fired Allstate Employee's Trial Carries Implications for
Religious Freedom
By Jim Brown July 19, 2005
(AgapePress) - There's a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday (July 20) in
the case of a former Allstate employee who claims the insurance company
fired him for writing an article against homosexual "marriage." The
outcome of the case will likely determine whether a Christian employee
can be fired for expressing his religious beliefs while off the job.
Former Allstate security manager Matt Barber recently filed a federal
lawsuit against the company, alleging viewpoint discrimination. An
investigation by the state of Illinois concluded that Barber was
terminated because an "outside organization" complained about an
article he wrote on his own time. The article defending traditional
marriage appeared on several conservative Internet sites.
[...]
Did he identify himself as an Allstate employee in the article? If
so, Allstate has a legitimate concern that he is degrading their
image. If not (ie. he was "dimed out" to Allstate management by a
snoop), then he has a stronger case.
Even so, however, the USA has strong "employment at will" common law:
employers don't have to retain employees they don't like (whether for
good or bad reasons), except under specific provisions of recent
"anti-discrimination" laws.
Another point -- did he denounce Allstate (eg for gay-friendly
policies) in his article? Disloyalty is ample grounds to fire
someone.
--Hugo S. Cunningham
.
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
