Quote:
Originally posted by Melusine:
I feel really ignorant now, because I hadn't realised the situation was quite this bad. So an employer can really fire someone arbitrarily and usually there's nothing you can do about it?? I have to tell you, the moron that would try to introduce the same thing in Holland would not get very far indeed. Seriously, I think everybody here would be absolutely OUTRAGED if anything like that happened here. Just as we would be outraged if someone was removed from a mall for the text on his T-shirt. Is that really the land of the free? Yeah yeah I get it already, don't jump on me. People are FREE to decide what to do with their private property, including malls. I understand that, even agree with it. Just saying that if any mall owner would be stupid enough to try that trick here, he could wave goodbye to his customers because he wouldn't be getting any. Of course he should have the right to install a rule like that... I'm just saying it would cost him his customers here.
But anyway I'm much more outraged about the employer thing though!! It makes an employee completely dependent on the whims of the employer. I mean, if you know he/she can fire you almost at will, you'll do anything, grovel, do overtime, swallow your own opinion... right? Or is it not that bad? Could someone tell me how things really are, legally speaking? Because if it's really true what I gather from this thread, that is truly horrible!
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Yep, sadly enough, it is true Mel. In Idaho we also have the 'right to work' law(we call it the 'right to get screwed' law, and other, less polite things), and it really is true. A business can, and will, fire you for, literally, NO REASON. You can just show up for work one day, and they can tell you "Thanks, but your services are no longer required." That's it, you're gone, have a nice day, and dont let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Now, theoretically, the reason for the job is to prevent unfair hiring practices, and is also, supposedly, a union busting law. However, like many other laws designed to 'level the playing field', all it ends up doing is giving companies yet ANOTHER way to screw their employees. I've swallowed my opinion, worked "mandatory, voluntary" overtime, and had to shut up and take it in the shorts on more than one occasion, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it, except grin and say 'Please sir, may I have some more?'
And you want to know the REALLY sick sad thing???!!!??? That law comes up for repeal about every two years in Idaho...And, for the last 20 years, IT'S BEEN VOTED BACK IN!!! How sad is THAT?? There's always a HUGE media blitz, with doom and gloom predictions spewed out by business' that dont want to lose their ability to stomp on their employees. These companies spend MILLIONS on advertising, and, so far, they've always managed to win...my hope is that, someday, the people in the voting booths will FINALLY wake the hell up and vote to repeal the law.
Erm...AFA the t-shirt thing...Yep, I agree with you on that too. I also think that it was stupid of the mall to ban t-shirts...they should have dealt with the root problem, that of large crowds of protesters gathering on their property. The proper, IMO, solution would have been to forbid protests on their property. Seems simple enough. Instead, they had an infantile, knee-jerk reaction, and this is what they got. Horrid publicity, a possible lawsuit, and some poor guy getting all the blame. And, I would imagine, a sharp drop in their sales. That's pretty much become my opinion BTW...I choose to vote with my wallet. Unless there's a store in Crossgates that I cant find anywhere else, I'm not shopping there, ever! And that's *MY* right. [img]smile.gif[/img]