Employer/Employee Rights

[markem]

Welcome to the real world. You can quit any time you want (barring a contract and some other niggling details in certain industries) and your employer can fire you any time they want (barring protected issues, contract (including union membership), etc., etc.)

The connected world makes it much easier to document behaviors that employers can feel threatened or embarrassed by and thus makes it much easier to dismiss an employee.

For this specific case, it isn't clear if this was a "last straw" or something else.

[forgop]

Originally Posted by markem

Welcome to the real world. You can quit any time you want (barring a contract and some other niggling details in certain industries) and your employer can fire you any time they want (barring protected issues, contract (including union membership), etc., etc.)

The connected world makes it much easier to document behaviors that employers can feel threatened or embarrassed by and thus makes it much easier to dismiss an employee.

For this specific case, it isn't clear if this was a "last straw" or something else.

In this case, this "code of ethics" violation was the only thing cited in his job performance. Let's say aside from a single action, he is a "model employee" of sorts. And what if something in the company's code of ethics essentially undermines freedoms granted in the US Constitution as a condition of employment?

As a non-union employee, what rights should he/she expect to have when they're not working?

[markem]

Originally Posted by forgop

As a non-union employee, what rights should he/she expect to have when they're not working?

In most states, none. They can fire you for your haircut, your smile, whatever; they just can't fire you for something that it is illegal to fire you for.

[forgop]

Originally Posted by markem

In most states, none. They can fire you for your haircut, your smile, whatever; they just can't fire you for something that it is illegal to fire you for.

I'm not talking about what an employer can legally do. I'm simply asking if it's stepping over the lines of decency and in some regard, a little bit of privacy.

I know the point can easily be made to go elsewhere if you don't think it's right, but what if all businesses started doing the same thing?