There’s been a lot of hype about a Home Depot employee who supposedly got fired for wearing a “God” button.
This Home Depot employee, Trevor Keezer from Okeechobee, FL,
claims the company kicked him out because of this:
But there’s a lot more to the story. And our cyber age helps expose a major flaw in Home Depot’s defense of its managers’ actions.
According to a Florida TV station, Keezer brought a bible to work to read during his lunch break. And Keezer’s lawyer, Kara Skorupa, is now claiming that’s around the time his managers at Home Depot started bugging him about his God button.
“There’s nothing wrong with having a Bible at work to take wherever you want to read and I think it just kind of hit them the wrong way and I think that was the pretense they used to fire him was ,’Oh, by the way, your button is not Home Depot issued,’” said Skorupa, whom Keezer hired to represent him.
They are claiming religious discrimination, and from what has been reported they may be onto something.
Religious discrimination claims have skyrocketed, according to data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. And last year the agency even put out new guidelines because things were getting so bad.
It’s a no no to discriminate against a worker because of his or her religion.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of l964 prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals because of their religion in hiring, firing, and other terms and conditions of employment. Title VII covers employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations, as well as to the federal government.
Home Depot isn’t giving out too much information on Keezer’s claims, but they did say:
The company’s dress code does not allow employees to wear “non-company buttons regardless of their message or content to be worn on aprons or other clothing.”
Sorry Home Depot, you’re in trouble with that defense.
I clearly remember having a Home Depot employee ring me up who had a pink breast cancer pin on her apron. (I’m heightened to this because my sister had breast cancer.)
Now, I didn’t take a photograph of the women, but thank goodness for the Internet.
Here’s a photo I dug up of Home Depot’s former CEO Robert Nardelli:
Clearly Nardelli is wearing an American flag folks.
So, if Nardelli was kicked out of Home Depot in 2007 because he wore a non-company message on his apron, and not because he was paying extravagant salaries to himself and other executives, which was the story back then, then the company’s claims will stand up.
But, that’s probably not the case.
I suspect there are a lot of Home Depot aprons out there with non-company stuff, and those employees probably still have jobs.
Did Cymbria get canned for that non-requisition Santa?
October 29th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Unfortunately, if the firing was over the employee’s reading of a Bible on break, then that’s what would need to be proved. From what I read of the company’s policy, it is clear that no non-official buttons are allowed. That doesn’t mean, as you noted, Eve, that some don’t violate that policy. This guy might have a case if he has evidence or witnesses that can demonstrate that others wore non-official buttons or decorations without being fired.
If this man was dismissed merely because his open Christian faith made others uncomfortable, then Home Depot should be ashamed, and is likely guilty under law. In my area, Home Depot employs devotees of Islam who wear the traditional head-scarves of their faith. These are clearly not official decorations authorized by Home Depot, but they are part of an individual’s protected right of free exercise. While some may not equate a button with a head scarf, the purpose is much the same–a public expression of the faith practiced by the individual who wears the token.
October 29th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I have to second HikingStick’s comments. I don’t think Home Depot has a leg to stand on here, especially if this matter is at all related to the employees desire to read a Bible during his break time…no matter what your religious affiliation, one’s choice in reading material during breaktime should be their own business, not the company’s.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:28 am
In the past, here and just about everywhere else, I’ve made it known that I was rmployed by the Home Depot for over ten years. I was with he Home Depot from the time it was beginning to expand worldwide to a time when the Home Depot was the sixth largest company in the WORLD. I said WORLD. Did i assist this huge expansion? You better believe it. I was there when our stores earned $2 billion in a seven day period. It was awesome. I watched the Kid’s Workshop program in my location go from an average of 30 participants monthly to over 400, still the largest participated Kid’s Workshop of all 2000 locations. After securing for 17 strait months of earning the Home Depot $3100 per hour in sales in our store’s Pro Desk, securing a sale of over $1 million dollars in commercial windows, after receiving almost a $4000 annual raise, and after receiving the first perfect review in my 20+ year store manager’s history, I was fired for throwing a paint stick with latex paint on it in the trash can while cleaning up a customer’s on the counter spill.
In all that time, I was absolutely the most hard line , sales oriented associate the Home Depot ever had. If I managed to have 1000 associates written up or maybe a third of that number fired, I did because my mantra is clear and simple ‘You are in business to create customers’. and I know that is all I did. I fought hard to regain my job and actually, I did. However, because my incident caused others to be terminated. All three of us had to take a drug test and one individual failed. So none of us were reinstated. My daughter is employed with the Home Depot. she is a Department Supervisor. She was employed by them wne this incident occurred. She is most assuredly very secure in her job and earns much more than you would expect. During the time I was not reinstated, I retained an attorney. There may have been more of an excellent chance I could have persued this further and even acquire pay. However, in front of the attorney, the regional VP stated that if I pursue my reinstatement, they would have to consider the further employment of my daughter. According to my attorney,there was nothing I could do. The Home Depot has private majority owners. There was four high level supervisors and managers who honestly felt that I represent the company and all of it’s goals who were present when he made his remark and they were astonished.
My concentration was all about the customer, as it should be. We had established policies as far as anything on you that was personal. Your apron is there to identify you as an associate of the Home Depot and your indoctrination is to the customer. Only Home Depot badges and awards are to be placed on your apron. The flag you see on Bob Nardelli’s apron is a Home Depot badge issued to veterans working for the Home Depot. I had one.
In my store, I turned down all efforts bestowed on me to be a manger because I did not have 90 hours per week to do so and assist my wife in ill health. Yes, an average Home Depot store manager has an obligation to 90 hours per week. When the company said no personal cell phones unless a manager approves it for emergencies(kids, pregnancy,things that are imminent), I’d tell the store manager. when i saw any associate walk past a customer without any acknowledgment, after I was finished waiting on the customer, I’d tell the store manager. If the store’s phone is ringing, after five rings, it would ring on the loudspeaker. I would always pick it up. And if this happened more than once on my shift, I would tell the store manager who would reprimand or terminate the Manager on Duty. If a customer said there were no carts, after I was finished waiting on them, I would make an announcement for all store personal to report to the lot to retrieved carts. I’d be out there and I would carefully notate who was out there with me. I would then submit that list to the store manager and he would reprimand the MOD. One time the store manager was the MOD. I reported it to the VP who kept me terminated. In one period of about two months, I reported the store manager to the VP five times and he was terminated. These are simple, simple things that have to be done consistently. Remember, I am no longer a Home Depot employee.
Personally, the chances of Mr. Keezer being terminated for any other reason other than he did not comply to the rules about your apron and appearance.
I was at the Home Depot on September 11, 2001. We scarcely had but a few customers. It was a difficult day for America. Within 48 hours, the Home Depot had a small American flag with the Homer character next to it that read ‘United We Stand’. Each store throughout the US was issued at least enough for every employee. It was entirely up to the employee to wear it and everyone in a Home Depot apron I saw for the next few years wore theirs. When I was terminated, every badge and certificate I earned in ten years was taken away from me. It belonged to the Home Depot. Except for one, the 9/11 pin. I do not know how else to say, I influenced many things there and I know it. And the Home Depot is my very best reference and always will be.