Man Fired For Looking At Gun Web Sites [More]Several readers have sent me links to various versions of this story--this one appears to be the most comprehensive breakdown I've seen.
If the supervisor and company truly applied different standards to gun websites than to others, and it appears they did, don't do business with them.
That said, I think we all have personally observed way too many employees spending way too much time web surfing when they're being paid to work--and yeah, that includes the bosses. I've cautioned readers here before--I appreciate all the site visits I can get, both here and at Gun Rights Examiner--but I'd hate to see you get in trouble because of that.
If the enuretics freak out over the Mossberg site, they'd probably call SWAT on you if they found you reading my brand of "domestic terrorism."
My prior employer blocked gun web sites from office browsing-- and gun owners were a key market I was selling to! Needless to say, I sell on my own now and am taking their lunch money.
ReplyDeleteLaugh whenever an economist says, "...in a perfect market..." There's no perfect competition, omniscient entrepreneur, or rational customer price discovery as long as humans are involved.
Vote with your feet.
Vote with your feet and your wallet.
ReplyDeleteBut if you contract to work for someone, do the job and save the web browsing, etc. for your own time.
If you must surf during work hours, use an internet capable smartphone or a personal laptop/netbook with a 3G "internet stick" and only surf during recognized breaks.
ReplyDeleteWhat you do on your own time on your own equipment is none of your employer's business.
Nonetheless this particular case smacks of discrimination, and this business should be boycotted.
Nice to know that shopping for gun parts (which can even be done to a limited extent on ebay and Amazon) is somewhere on a verboten continuum that includes porn and Stormfront
My guess is that Jackson got on the wrong side of his supervisor Vasquez who then retaliated by filing a hostile work environment complaint (sexual discrimination) against Jackson and claimed his interest in guns and his checking of gun sites was creating the hostile environment. In those circumstances the dog who barks first always wins the fight. The accused person has a snowball’s chance of keeping his job because companies are scared of those type lawsuits and don't have the cajones to back their employees. It’s less expensive to fire the accused person than to defend a lawsuit, valid or not.
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