Feedback from November/December 1997 From: "Tom Gossman" <gossman@hcob1.hcob.wmich.edu> Organization: Western Michigan University Date: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 21:32:37 +0000 Subject: Re: Employment Law Reply-to: gossman@wmich.edu Priority: normal [Dr. Grossman teaches Employment Law at Western Michigan University, my alma mater. This is his response to an email I sent him asking him about my situation.] HI, Cameron! I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems. As to the First Amendment question, only the government, or an agent or employee of the government can violate your constitutional rights. A private individual, such as your employer, cannot. Employment at will is a bit of a complicated area, and although there are exceptions to the rule, generally speaking your employer, in an at will employment, is entitled to terminate you at any time with or without cause, just as you are entitled to quit at any time with or without cause. If you shared this off-color material with your female coworkers, I am afraid you may have created an environment which would justify their asking for your dismissal. Overall, I would have to say that things don't look too good for your side. I wish I could be more favorable toward your position, but I assume you want me to be frank. Perhaps you need to move on and put this thing behind you, and learn from it. From: TerryWink@aol.com (Terry Winkelmann) Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 16:27:11 -0500 (EST) Man, that SUCKS Cameron! (Pardon my French) . Go get the bastards! I think this is more than just free speech, this could easily become a precedent setting case of Internet proportions. What a bunch of wusses (sp) . Who asked these goonballs to snoop around your fiction page anyway? And so what if they did read something "risque". What are you, a Kabbalist cannibal? Geez. This kind of baloney really gets me steamed, and this is one thing I haven't been fired for, personally. (Usually because I have such strong, liberal opinions, y'know.) Date: Tue, 09 Dec 1997 21:39:19 +0000 From: Brendan <bcguy@walrus.com> Subject: your situation Hi Cameron - I think it's appalling that you were terminated, but please let me offer the below disagreements with your position. There are two issues as I see it and it's easy to merge them into one. I think many people would respond to your situation with the attitude "...it's wrong what happened, and there aught to be a law to stop that." Well, wether or not _your_ termination was right or wrong and wether or not the act of terminating someone for non-workplace issues is right or wrong are two very different issues. I think, as stated above, that it's downright ludicrous that you were terminated for your writings on your web site. I think your co-workers acted with petty, self-righteous indignation that was founded on nothing more than ignorance and self-importance. I think that your employer acted with short-sighted fear for the PC crowd and deserves nothing more than contempt. I think, however, that for free enterprise to work, he MUST be able to run his company as he sees fit. I assume that this company is privately held (if not, my opinions would be the same, but the laws very different), and so his company is HIS company. Maybe I'm naive, but I separate the moral from the legal here, and while I think _this_ instance is counter to "the right thing", I think that a law compelling employers to continue employment would be far, far worse. I've always taken the attitude that the employer has _no_ business even asking about activities of mine when I'm not on the clock. They'll have a right to comment on what I do on saturday when they pay me for saturday. I wouldn't work for someone any other way. I can do what I want because it's my time and my person. Let's switch that around... let's say that it's MY company. Shouldn't I be able to hire who I want? There's someone on my staff I don't like. Regardless of reason. I don't like them. I want them gone. If I can't fire them, who's company is it? What if after realizing that I don't like them, the legitamate reason for their position goes away? Do I have to prove it? That gets ugly and messy. I think you were wronged, but I think that you would be wronging all of free enterprise by turning this into a 'right to work' legal battle. Date: Mon, 08 Dec 1997 13:28:12 -0500 From: "L. Rive Gauche" <tanuki@erols.com> Subject: screwed Cameron, I'm going to poke around your web site a bit more so my knowedge of the "offending" material is better but on first blush this seems yet another extension of the prevailing PC orthodoxy. It is the new censorship. ... And be sure never to mention the "Dolores" episode of "Seinfeld!" Date: Mon, 08 Dec 1997 14:10:26 -0500 From: Stéphane Volet <steph@barreau.qc.ca> Subject: Getting fired for using your brain... Hello Cameron!... ..having studied ans tried to live from New music (i.e.: contemporary music... no tunes, no harmony... very odd to about 99% of people I meet)... I know the feeling of being considered a wierdo... Or someone slightly deranged. And sometimes I must say I was rather pleased to be considered as such... Nonetheless... I'm surprised, in your story, that you couldn't detect such intolerance (...stupidity is the word that initially popped out of my mind) before even mentionning your fictional work... I usually don't even bother to try explaining anything to a zealot (or a moron). Since these people you spooked were your coworkers, wasn't there any signs that they would freak out in such a way? (Couldn't they simply tell you they thought you were...whatever they thought?) hmmm....