Was a Rocketown Employee Fired Over a T-Shirt Supporting Same-Sex Marriage?

[The Straight Story]

Over at our sister blog Nashville Cream, Adam Gold has a story about the Rocketown employee who alleges he was fired over a T-shirt with a slogan supporting same-sex marriage:

.. Wes Breedwell alleged he was fired from his job as music venue manager at Rocketown — the Nashville non-profit, all-ages music venue, coffee bar, skate park and youth ministry founded by Christian singer Michael W. Smith — when he showed up to work wearing an “I Support Same-Sex Marriage” T-shirt.

On Instagram and via Twitter, Breedwell posted pictures of himself wearing the shirt, which bore the name of Connecticut band Hostage Calm — a group that has performed at Rocketown multiple times, and vowed in a statement yesterday never to play there again — on the front and the pro-gay-rights slogan on the back. In a caption, he stated, “Got fired from Rocketown today. Social media is what did it. So here is a picture to show my support for equality and free speech including social media.”

Breedwell had worked for Rocketown for seven years.

Along with a statement on Breedwell’s behalf, Hostage Calm emailed a photo ... presumably of Breedwell’s “employee discipline notice.” Under a checked category for “lack of judgment,” handwritten comments read, “You cannot wear a shirt to work on an office day or a show day supporting same sex marriage.” Below, in the “future action steps" section, the notice reads: “It is imperative that our beliefs are not personal or presented (at) work that contradict the mission. Future action will be based on the action but will include suspension or termination.” An employee signature line — to acknowledge the infraction and agree to work to improve said behavior — is left unsigned.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/pitw/archives/2013/01/22/was-a-rocketown-employee-fired-over-a-t-shirt-supporting-same-sex-marriage

[joeybee12]

1. Rocketown is screwed...if they had said he couldn't wear "political" messages on clothing, that's

one thing...the specifically mention same-sex marriage.

That said, this is TN, soGod only knows what the specific laws are.

[jberryhill]

2. In what way are they "screwed"

Do you mean there is a legal claim of some kind, or that their response will hurt them in some other way?

[joeybee12]

3. Well, they singled out his message...did they take political messages from others

And those had no reprecussions?

[jberryhill]

4. What does that have to do with anything?

Do you think that there would be something wrong with a staffer at OFA being fired for wearing a "Vote Romney" t-shirt?

This is what Rocketown is:

http://www.rocketown.com/about/rocketown

Mission

Offering hope to the next generation through Christ’s love.


...

Rocketown is committed to equal employment opportunity. We will not discriminate against staff members or applicants for employment on any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, uniform service member status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin,age, physical or mental disability, genetic information or any other protected class under federal, state or local law.

In Tennessee, the following are a protected class: race; creed; color; religion; sex; age (40 or over); national origin; physical, mental or visual disability; National Guard membership; and tobacco use during nonworking hours.

They are essentially a religious mission organization, so they are pretty careful to include the "legally-recognized" qualifier there.

They apparently do not discriminate in their hiring on the basis of religious belief, but belief and exercise on the job are two different things.

What would you expect the result to be if it was a Jewish Youth Center, and an employee was wearing a "Pork, the other white meat" shirt?

One can certainly be fired by any employer (subject to any contractual or union conditions) for expressing political views the employer doesn't like. An at-will employee can be fired for any reason, or no reason at all, so long as the at-will employee is not fired for an impermissible reason. Wearing clothing or communicating messages which the employer believes to be inconsistent with the business in question is permissible.

If I had an employee show up in a shirt reading "I hate gay people" I'd fire him/her on the spot. Is it legal to hate gay people? Yep. Is it legal to say "I hate gay people"? Yep. But I wouldn't tolerate that from an employee for a nanosecond.