Alabama fan fired after tweeting he was 'glad' receiver struck female Tennessee fan

[Stephen Gray]

His company was being bombarded on the same social media platform about it. He immediately became a liability. They can't afford to ignore it. Advocating for an even more severe beating of a woman because your team lost a football game was incredibly stupid to say, it became even more so to do it on an account with your actual name and the name of your company in your profile. No company with a brain is going to be associated with an employee like that.

Here's a first amendment primer for everyone too.

You say something.

Were you arrested for it? If so, there's a chance your first amendment rights were violated unless what you said was a threat to harm someone or a threat to public safety.

If you were not arrested for it, your first amendment rights were not violated. There is no such thing as freedom of consequences from your peers, your employer, your community etc.

Agreed 100% with all of this.

You can go on social media and say your company owner's wife is hot and you want her to jump in bed with you and not be arrested for it. You are probably losing your job for saying it though.

Yeah, you probably lose your job. She might jump in bed with you though. Could be worth it? You might lose the battle.. but win the war..

 

[WoodsmanVol]

Huh?

ERRRM.

 

[vols40]

His company was being bombarded on the same social media platform about it. He immediately became a liability. They can't afford to ignore it. Advocating for an even more severe beating of a woman because your team lost a football game was incredibly stupid to say, it became even more so to do it on an account with your actual name and the name of your company in your profile. No company with a brain is going to be associated with an employee like that.

Here's a first amendment primer for everyone too.

You say something.

Were you arrested for it? If so, there's a chance your first amendment rights were violated unless what you said was a threat to harm someone or a threat to public safety.

If you were not arrested for it, your first amendment rights were not violated. There is no such thing as freedom of consequences from your peers, your employer, your community etc.

You can go on social media and say your company owner's wife is hot and you want her to jump in bed with you and not be arrested for it. You are probably losing your job for saying it though.

Will just say I am thankful you are not my boss. With that slippery slope of thinking one could surmise you would fire them for anything you don't agree with. Not saying you would but that could be the assumption.
I never said anything about what he said being right or not despicable. I don't conform to cancel culture. And think there's always a positive way to resolve these things. At the end of the day they are just words. And as a leader of a company I have many tools at my disposal to handle situations like these and nowhere in that list is the option to bend the knee to the demands of social media users. The last two years have made it even more difficult to staff labor for several different reasons one being the bending of the knee without having conversations. Complete cowardice. As I said earlier terminations are made as a last resort where with supporting documents and attempts to coach/counsel/groom your employees not as a reaction to what the mob says have all been exhausted. If you want to be a successful leader you take the team you have and grow them. Coaching them helping improve their skill set for future advancement. These employees will be better more productive and it gives you a feeling of helping someone achieve something important to them.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Will just say I am thankful you are not my boss. With that slippery slope of thinking one could surmise you would fire them for anything you don't agree with. Not saying you would but that could be the assumption.
I never said anything about what he said being right or not despicable. I don't conform to cancel culture. And think there's always a positive way to resolve these things. At the end of the day they are just words. And as a leader of a company I have many tools at my disposal to handle situations like these and nowhere in that list is the option to bend the knee to the demands of social media users. The last two years have made it even more difficult to staff labor for several different reasons one being the bending of the knee without having conversations. Complete cowardice. As I said earlier terminations are made as a last resort where with supporting documents and attempts to coach/counsel/groom your employees not as a reaction to what the mob says. If you want to be a successful leader you take the team you have and grow them. Coaching them helping improve their skill set for future advancement. These employees will be better more productive and it gives you a feeling of helping someone achieve something important to them.

You're only seeing one side of it, brother.

Keep in mind: the employers (pretty much all of them) really want to keep all their employees. In this post-covid age, it's hard to keep the roster full. Plus, once you hire a person and get all the mandatory training and paperwork done, then get them trained on their duties, there's a sunken investment. It hurts to have to replace them.

So employers aren't out there salivating for ways to fire people. They don't want to. You pretty much have to prove you're a liability before they'll do that.

So just don't be a liability, and you'll be fine. Gotta stop thinking of employers as snipers shooting against their own team. Just ain't true.

 

[Delmar]

I just don't like the randomness of this, does he have a history of this type behavior, was he drinking, was it taken out of context, did he apologize. I think I would want to know a lot more before I fired someone for an online comment. He was judged, convicted and sentence carried out with no hearing or chance to speak. This is just an ass**le being an ass**hole, no one was injured.

I’ve been in sales management for much of my 45 year career and I can assure you that a—holes didn’t last long working for me. And a lot of that was before social media. There’s classy behavior and there’s trashy behavior. Folks make their choices. This clown did and he paid for it.

 

[Stephen Gray]

You're only seeing one side of it, brother.

Keep in mind: the employers (pretty much all of them) really want to keep all their employees. In this post-covid age, it's hard to keep the roster full. Plus, once you hire a person and get all the mandatory training and paperwork done, then get them trained on their duties, there's a sunken investment. It hurts to have to replace them.

So employers aren't out there salivating for ways to fire people. They don't want to. You pretty much have to prove you're a liability before they'll do that.

So just don't be a liability, and you'll be fine. Gotta stop thinking of employers as snipers shooting against their own team. Just ain't true.

Yeah, it's hard to get good people. Be good people. Also I feel like just as employees can and do leave employers for various reasons, employers have the right to part ways with employees in many circumstances. They usually won't, because as you pointed at, it's expensive to find and develop your people, but I do think they should be able to. The way it see, employment is a privilege that the employer provides the employee, and they should be able to withdraw this privilege for the good of the company. Similarly, the work an employee produces is a privilege that they provide to the employer, and they can and should be able to stop providing this work to serve their own interests. .

There are of course some things that an employer cannot use as a reason legally terminate an employee. They cannot legally discriminate based on race, sex, religion, and so forth. Also different states have rules. Most states though are right to work states, meaning both the employer and the employee can choose to part ways in most any scenario except those that are protected. Being dumb and bringing bad attention to your company is not one of those protected reasons.

 

[vols40]

You're only seeing one side of it, brother.

Keep in mind: the employers (pretty much all of them) really want to keep all their employees. In this post-covid age, it's hard to keep the roster full. Plus, once you hire a person and get all the mandatory training and paperwork done, then get them trained on their duties, there's a sunken investment. It hurts to have to replace them.

So employers aren't out there salivating for ways to fire people. They don't want to. You pretty much have to prove you're a liability before they'll do that.

So just don't be a liability, and you'll be fine. Gotta stop thinking of employers as snipers shooting against their own team. Just ain't true.

That was not my argument. I stated in an earlier post that if the employee in question had an employee file that warranted termination that I had no problem with the firing. My contention from the outset was that I don't think the person should have been fired for this alone. If this was a model employee and this was the only thing in his file I don't go immediately to termination. They are other ways to handle this. As a manager I understand the many many opportunities that are given to employees before termination. Bending the knee to the woke cancel culture is bad no matter which way it falls.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

That was not my argument. I stated in an earlier post that if the employee in question had an employee file that warranted termination that I had no problem with the firing. My contention from the outset was that I don't think the person should have been fired for this alone. If this was a model employee and this was the only thing in his file I don't go immediately to termination. They are other ways to handle this. As a manager I understand the many many opportunities that are given to employees before termination. Bending the knee to the woke cancel culture is bad no matter which way it falls.

I strongly suspect this was one of those "last straw" circumstances. The firing came AWFULLY fast.

I suspect they were already fed up with the dude. So he probably was not a model employee, and wasn't fired for this alone.

Don't blame cancel culture. Blame the dude who put himself in a position to be fired.

 

[vols40]

I strongly suspect this was one of those "last straw" circumstances. The firing came AWFULLY fast.

I suspect they were already fed up with the dude. So he probably was not a model employee, and wasn't fired for this alone.

Don't blame cancel culture. Blame the dude who put himself in a position to be fired.

I totally agree if that's the case. My contention from the outset was this and only this should not get him fired. Now had he went all Harvey Updyke and physically did something and posted about it that would be different and acceptable.

 

[1world1love]

.

Don't blame cancel culture. Blame the dude who put himself in a position to be fired.

This is what it boils down to. Everybody is looking to blame somebody these days.

All the “it’s the woke mobs fault” or “the cancel culture is out of hand” stuff is ridiculous. How about as a society we have zero tolerance policy on violence against women. Words matter and have consequences. People talk about a slippery slope, but it works the other way too.

What if they don’t fire him and another employee openly endorses violence against somebody. How could they fire that person now?

 

[hog88]

I totally agree if that's the case. My contention from the outset was this and only this should not get him fired. Now had he went all Harvey Updyke and physically did something and posted about it that would be different and acceptable.

If his employer had clients threatening to pull business it wouldn’t matter if he was their best employee he had to go.

 

[vols40]

This is what it boils down to. Everybody is looking to blame somebody these days.

All the “it’s the woke mobs fault” or “the cancel culture is out of hand” stuff is ridiculous. How about as a society we have zero tolerance policy on violence against women. Words matter and have consequences. People talk about a slippery slope, but it works the other way too.

What if they don’t fire him and another employee openly endorses violence against somebody. How could they fire that person now?

Strong leaders handle any "what ifs" if and when they arise. Again my contention is that the post alone if it's by a model employee of over 6 years of employment with zero issues in their file I take this as a chance to make a difference in that person. One that makes them better for my company and in turn better for them in the long run. And conversely if this is an employee whose file is full of things that shows patterns. Patterns that I have made the attempt and patterns they have refused. Then and only then is termination warranted.

 

[VOLtaism]

I’ve been in sales management for much of my 45 year career and I can assure you that a—holes didn’t last long working for me. And a lot of that was before social media. There’s classy behavior and there’s trashy behavior. Folks make their choices. This clown did and he paid for it.

You're correct, but that is my point, who decides what is classy behavior? You, his company? Yes, you got it right this time but who decides where the line is drawn? Old school I know.

 

[vols40]

If his employer had clients threatening to pull business it wouldn’t matter if he was their best employee he had to go.

I totally understand that. Sometimes you may be forced. But just like overreacting in clients is no different in overreacting in termination. I just hope that with all we know the guy was not terminated for a social media post alone. If my business is dependent on one client my company has issues. What do I do for all of my employees if they decide to take their business elsewhere?

 

[hog88]

I totally understand that. Sometimes you may be forced. But just like overreacting in clients is no different in overreacting in termination. I just hope that with all we know the guy was not terminated for a social media post alone. If my business is dependent on one client my company has issues. What do I do for all of my employees if they decide to take their business elsewhere?

I’m setting the example for my other employees, I’m not jeopardizing your jobs to keep a dumbass.

 

[vols40]

I’m setting the example for my other employees, I’m not jeopardizing your jobs to keep a dumbass.

Lol. Go ahead and fire employees at will for whatever reason you want it's your company. But don't be surprised if you do that your other employees without you knowing at the very least get that resume updated. So make that example of an employee and if that works for you then hey. But no one I mean no one "wants" to work for people that they are fearful of making a mistake.

Serious question Hogg is your company dependent on one client?

 

[hog88]

Lol. Go ahead and fire employees at will for whatever reason you want it's your company. But don't be surprised if you do that your other employees without you knowing at the very least get that resume updated. So make that example of an employee and if that works for you then hey. But no one I mean no one "wants" to work for people that they are fearful of making a mistake.

LOL

 

[midtnvol2]

Yeah, it's hard to get good people. Be good people. Also I feel like just as employees can and do leave employers for various reasons, employers have the right to part ways with employees in many circumstances. They usually won't, because as you pointed at, it's expensive to find and develop your people, but I do think they should be able to. The way it see, employment is a privilege that the employer provides the employee, and they should be able to withdraw this privilege for the good of the company. Similarly, the work an employee produces is a privilege that they provide to the employer, and they can and should be able to stop providing this work to serve their own interests. .

There are of course some things that an employer cannot use as a reason legally terminate an employee. They cannot legally discriminate based on race, sex, religion, and so forth. Also different states have rules. Most states though are right to work states, meaning both the employer and the employee can choose to part ways in most any scenario except those that are protected. Being dumb and bringing bad attention to your company is not one of those protected reasons.

Tennessee is an at-will employment state. That means that employers can hire or fire an employee at any time, even without reason.

 

[1world1love]

Lol. Go ahead and fire employees at will for whatever reason you want it's your company. But don't be surprised if you do that your other employees without you knowing at the very least get that resume updated. So make that example of an employee and if that works for you then hey. But no one I mean no one "wants" to work for people that they are fearful of making a mistake.

Serious question Hogg is your company dependent on one client?

If somebody in my company posted that and came to work on Monday, there would be serious morale issues and likely I would lose some good people over it. So I’m supposed to keep a proven dumbass and lose good employees because I’m implicitly accepting his public statements.

I am not sure you should be giving leadership advice to anyone.

 

[Stephen Gray]

Tennessee is an at-will employment state. That means that employers can hire or fire an employee at any time, even without reason.

You are right, I got them mixed up. Anyway, I think at-will is the way it should be. If I can leave my job when it suits me, why shouldn’t an employer be able to look after their own interests?

 

[hog88]

Lol. Go ahead and fire employees at will for whatever reason you want it's your company. But don't be surprised if you do that your other employees without you knowing at the very least get that resume updated. So make that example of an employee and if that works for you then hey. But no one I mean no one "wants" to work for people that they are fearful of making a mistake.

Serious question Hogg is your company dependent on one client?

No but I have some large enough that if we lost one of them it would cause some people to lose their jobs.

 

[vols40]

If somebody in my company posted that and came to work on Monday, there would be serious morale issues and likely I would lose some good people over it. So I’m supposed to keep a proven dumbass and lose good employees because I’m implicitly accepting his public statements.

I am not sure you should be giving leadership advice to anyone.

You do you bro. I will keep doing me. In my "leadership role" and producing at the highest level. Lol

 

[midtnvol2]

You are right, I got them mixed up. Anyway, I think at-will is the way it should be. If I can leave my job when it suits me, why shouldn’t an employer be able to look after their own interests?

JMO, but from working for a world wide company for over 15 years, they make it known to their employees that they do look at social media posts and warn you at the time of your hiring to use good judgement. My company will also look at someone's social media posts before interviewing. Right or wrong, good or bad, some companies take it into consideration.

 

[Stephen Gray]

JMO, but from working for a world wide company for over 15 years, they make it known to their employees that they do look at social media posts and warn you at the time of your hiring to use good judgement. My company will also look at someone's social media posts before interviewing. Right or wrong, good or bad, some companies take it into consideration.

Same. Everyone I’ve worked for in the last decade plus had a social media policy and also just a general policy for how to act when you are representing the company in any way. Only time this wasn’t a thing was periods where I was an independent contractor. Most companies also have annual ethics training which often reiterates things like these policies too.

 

[vols40]

No but I have some large enough that if we lost one of them it would cause some people to lose their jobs.

That is pressure. And without knowing anything about you this is probably something you have conveyed to your team the importance of. And in that case your employees are not likely to have a slip up like that.