Home Depot fires the Bible-reading Cashier wearing the "One Nation Under God" button

D_Ireonsyd_Colonrinse

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I don't know why I find this story interesting, but I do.

The healine reads
Florida man says Home Depot fired him over God button


A guy was working at a Home Depot in Florida as a cashier to earn money for college. He wears an American Flag "One nation under God, indivisible" button on his shirt, about double the size of a half-dollar (it's the size of your average political campaign button).

"I was just doing what I think every American should do, just love my country," is what they guy, Trevor, told the press.


Now, if I were a cashier working beside Trevor, and I wore my "Homosexuality is NOT a sin --- & I LOVE my country!" button, I wonder if Trevor would support that.


Earlier during the month, Trevor began bringing his Bible to work and reading it during lunch break. And the Home Depot management team asked him to remove the button. He refused, and they fired him last Friday (Oct. 23).

"It feels kind of like a punishment, like I was punished for just loving my country," Trevor Keezer said.


My mind drifts to conservative talk radio and Fox News. Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck and Mark Levine LOVE to rant and rail about the removal of "God" and "Merry Christmas" and Nativity (baby Jesus/donkey/wise men/manger) scenes and Crosses not just from public places, but private places too, like the ""Merry Christmas" sign in the Target window being replaced with a "Happy Holidays!" sign.... or renaming the Christmas tree the "Winter Solstice tree". If this Home Depot store were instead a Nancy Pelosi-owned company, Sean Hannity would report on the firng for a week and have the kid on as a guest.


I flick to the "Home Depot / wikipedia" page. Yes, Home Depot is in all 50 states, but also in Canada (all ten prvinces), Mexico, China. It's an international company without specific allegiance to the United States.


The Home Depot management offered Trevor a "United We Stand" button to wear instead, but he declined.


"There are federal and state laws that protect against religious disccrimination," Skorupa - Trevor's lawyer - said. "It's not like he was out in the aisles preaching to people." Trevor Keezer has a 27-year-old brother in the National Guard. "These mottos and sayings that involve God, that's part of our country and historical fabric," Skorupa said. "In God we trust is on our money."


"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," is the Home Depot position. "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... Because it's a private business, not one that's owned and operated by the government, it doesn't have to operate under the free speech provisions of the First Amendment."


Fla. man says Home Depot fired him over God button - Yahoo! News
 

MovingForward

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I think we need more info. Maybe someone complained, that he was making them uncomfortable. If that button made me uncomfortable and I complained as it is not part of the uniform, and then the management does nothing, then I could sue the company for a hostile work environment. If they warned him, and he knew it was not within the uniform standard, even if he had been wearing it for a year, it still doesnt make him right.
 

B_VinylBoy

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At the end of the day, it's just a pin that said, "One Nation Under God". Even if you have different religious beliefs, this shouldn't offend anyone. Although I don't like the idea of people pushing their religious beliefs on me, this does seem like going a bit overboard. It's not as if this person was violently attacking anyone by wearing it. That's just looking at it from a personal standpoint.

From the business angle, however, if it's written in their rules that as an employee you cannot wear anything that implies religion in any shape or fashion then he has no choice but to follow suit. He chose not to and paid the price. Like Dave Chappelle said in a famous skit... sometimes, "keeping it real" goes very wrong. Pick your battles wisely.
 

invisibleman

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I wouldn't mind him having a button on. But if he is in the HOME DEPOT passing out little New Testament bibles and/or Books of Mormon. Or leaving religious tracts in the restrooms...I think that would be a time to have a talk with the guy. I wouldn't have fired him.
 

B_VinylBoy

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I wouldn't mind him having a button on. But if he is in the HOME DEPOT passing out little New Testament bibles and/or Books of Mormon. Or leaving religious tracts in the restrooms...I think that would be a time to have a talk with the guy. I wouldn't have fired him.

Agreed... firing him seemed to be a bit obsessive. Then again, we don't know the whole story or if this person has been reprimanded for doing similar things in the past.

On a slightly unrelated note, I'm so glad I work at a computer store in a department where I can wear a shirt that says "Unf*ck The World" and get away with it. Woo Hoo! :biggrin1:
 

vince

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The guy's an idiot. He gave up a job over a button? People never cease to amaze me.

If it's part of his terms of employment that he can only wear company buttons, then he should obey.

Nationalism is as much a sickness as religion.
 

MercyfulFate

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Free speech versus businesses rights. Hooray.

An old job of mine used to make you hide any necklaces, and while I wasn't religious I always wore a Celtic cross my mother had bought for me.

I'm sure I could have gotten in trouble for it, but as it wasn't a statement for me I never kept it out.
 

tripod

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The employee can always get a job at Lowe's they are a bunch of rednecks from the mountains and would LOVE for her to sport her patriotism on her lapel.

She chose the wrong Home Improvement center, she should have walked across the street.
 

dude252007

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I am offended by Home Depot's contribution to illegal slave labor. In many cities Home Depot has an area for illegals to gather to recruit work. This offends me. What has been done about it? We are all offended by something and when something like this happens it is a slippery slope. People forget that not long ago the opposite of everything and every thought today were what was accepted.

Just because everyone agrees does not make it right. Just because some people chose to include God or exclude God does not make their life right.

Notice those replies that have equated redneck with patriots. If being a patriot is a redneck then call me a redneck.

Oh yea, both Lowe's and Home Depot are headquartered out of the south, one GA and one in NC so I would hardly say Home Depot is the shinning example to yuppies.

Has there ever been a liberal who disagrees and uses facts to balance their argument? No, there has not. Liberals go right to insulting.
 
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Sergeant_Torpedo

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I am not embarrassed nor offended by people wearing their faith allegiances, but if the employer has a public policy that was explained to the emplyee before his appointment then he is honour bound to abide by it. God did not say we should love our country, he said we should love our neighbour, protect our people and do quiet good deeds in caring for the poor and dispossessed. What I do object to in a retail establishment is rude, inatentive, lazy, off hand sales staff, and especially those who flirt with other members of the staff or carry on annoyingly boring conversation with other staff. But do the management come down on them? usually not: so I suspect in this case it is the usual knee jerk political correctness pose.
 

jason_els

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Ugh....

If Home Depot allowed some associates to wear private buttons and singled out this guy, then yeah, he'd have a case. But as they have a blanket policy of only company-authorized signs and buttons on their employees, this guy doesn't have a leg to stand on. In fact, it would be unfair to make an exception of him by not permitting others to wear personal buttons while allowing him to continue to wear his.

The guy's an idiot. He was warned, broke the rule, and was fired. I don't see how conservatives can have a problem with that because he broke his employer's rules and the employer rightly fired him. I'm sure this guy is some liberal phony who is only looking to stir the pot by pushing his own religious agenda on his employer who simply wants to keep their stores religion-neutral so as not to offend members of any religious group.
 

finsuptx

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The ONLY thing this case has to do with is: An At-Will Employee was told to either remove or replace an unauthorized accessory to his uniform. It was explained to him not only in the employee handbook, but also by his supervisors. He refused to do so and was terminated for insubordination and I don't feel sorry for him one bit.

He is free to wear what he likes when he is not in uniform. This kid just thought the rules in the handbook didn't apply to him because he "loves his country". He wasn't being punished for loving his country, he was punished and FIRED because he would not comply with company policy.
 

B_Nick8

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He either violated the dress code or he didn't. He did. Personal statements that will reflect on the owner or conceivably offend customers don't belong in the workplace. I have some issue with how long it took them to reprimand him but when they did, it was his choice to comply with company policy or not.
 

kalipygian

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Their corporate is homophobic (at least one token gesture notwithstanding) and right wing, it was probably not a philosophical difference.
I have known a couple of people who worked for them, they were not well treated.
 

HazelGod

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Kudos to Home Depot. As someone who doesn't believe in gods, and certainly not in man's many religions claiming to worship them, I'm strongly turned off by any entity that actively or passively encourages proliferation of such nonsense.

The sooner we stamp out the notion that public displays of belief in supernatural beings in control of existence are acceptable, the sooner we can get on with evolving as an intelligent species.
 

mitchymo

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Kudos to Home Depot. As someone who doesn't believe in gods, and certainly not in man's many religions claiming to worship them, I'm strongly turned off by any entity that actively or passively encourages proliferation of such nonsense.

The sooner we stamp out the notion that public displays of belief in supernatural beings in control of existence are acceptable, the sooner we can get on with evolving as an intelligent species.

I wonder if Pope Benedict is having you over for Xmas. pmsl
 

SR_Blarney_Frank

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The real problem is why everyone seems to think that everyone else should give a shit about what they think. We've become a nation of lame slogans and bumper stickers as though there's a Super Bowl of ideology and we're rooting for the home team.

I do not care if you like God. Are you a better person for it? Leave the button at home. Or your Satan/Buddha/Jehovah/Insert Ideology Here button.

Think and live as you choose and leave everyone else out of it. Please.
 

B_VinylBoy

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The real problem is why everyone seems to think that everyone else should give a shit about what they think. We've become a nation of lame slogans and bumper stickers as though there's a Super Bowl of ideology and we're rooting for the home team.

I do not care if you like God. Are you a better person for it? Leave the button at home. Or your Satan/Buddha/Jehovah/Insert Ideology Here button.

Think and live as you choose and leave everyone else out of it. Please.

Q(uoted) F(or) T(ruth)!!!
Thank you for saying this. :biggrin1:
 

MercyfulFate

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Kudos to Home Depot. As someone who doesn't believe in gods, and certainly not in man's many religions claiming to worship them, I'm strongly turned off by any entity that actively or passively encourages proliferation of such nonsense.

The sooner we stamp out the notion that public displays of belief in supernatural beings in control of existence are acceptable, the sooner we can get on with evolving as an intelligent species.

As non-religious as I am, I have to disagree with this. It's their right to wear these things in public. Wearing it on a uniform at a job is a whole different set of circumstances however.

I mean that argument could extend to anything, even non-religious symbols. If someone wants to get rid of one symbol, someone else will want to get rid of another. Hell, I'd like it if most fashion trends didn't exist too because they represent things I dislike, but you see where I'm going.

Their corporate is homophobic (at least one token gesture notwithstanding) and right wing, it was probably not a philosophical difference.
I have known a couple of people who worked for them, they were not well treated.

They've taken an anti-gay stance on something? Haven't heard about this. (Leaving the word homophobic for another discussion)