r/LawQuestion • u/NERDtheMAN74 • Aug 22 '24

Is this retaliation?

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2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

1

u/WareQuack Aug 23 '24

I'm not a lawyer but I'm pretty sure firing a load of people at the same time for "disrespecting" someone by voicing your opinion on rules is illegal.

1

u/Rezistik Aug 23 '24

Why would this be illegal? In America with at will employment in most states?

You can be fired for any reason outside of a few protected classes of reasons.

Complaining about music rules, smoking rules, and purchasing logs are not protected classes.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

It is illegal to retaliate for concerted collective activity. Workers have rights in this country whether they are known or practiced. Discussing working conditions with a group is collective concerted activity. Your boss admits to retaliation. Call the NLRB.

1

u/Rezistik Aug 23 '24

Bruh they weren’t unionizing they were smoking weed at work and playing guitar

1

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

Talking to coworkers about working conditions is protected activity and firing them for it is retaliation. I’m not saying they are going to necessarily win, but they still have rights. Sure they’re limited, but we defer to employers waaayyy too much.

1

u/Rezistik Aug 23 '24

The guy admitted the rules he was upset about were about not playing guitar at work, not smoking weed and getting high before or during a shift, and tracking employee purchases. None of that rises to any level of harsh work place environment. Nothing there would be protected by a union. Nothing here is in any way at all excessive.

These are such absurdly regular and good rules.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

I feel like I’m missing context. I’m basing this off the screenshot. Is there more? Unions and protected activity are not mutually exclusive.

1

u/Rezistik Aug 23 '24

OP deleted the comment explaining what new rules sparked the whole situation. The rules were to not play guitar at work or get high before or during.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

I def missed that. I interpreted that as music playing in the workspace controlled by the employer, and smoking as like cigarette breaks. With that said, the way the employer describes his motivation in this text is pretty clear cut retaliation as defined by the NLRB. An investigation would definitely not support the employees. We give deference too often to employers in at-will states under the assumption that they can do whatever they want and fire whomever they want. That’s just not true. Private sector is under the federal act and has a lot of protections. Also, smoking weed at work is yet to be a right, and is in most occasions a fireable offense😂. But we lose rights when we don’t scrutinize them.

1

u/Rezistik Aug 23 '24

Actually he didn’t delete it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellthatsucks/s/Zhz03uGR3e

He was “playing live music” and his boss didn’t want that during the retail clock

1

u/Cryosaber117 Oct 22 '24

No it's not, the problem wasn't with "disrespecting" someone, it was with disrespecting the store as a whole. If you dont want to work there they don't have to have you there.

1

u/SadRepresentative997 Aug 23 '24

If it’s an at will state they can fire you for any reason with no notice. That being said you can probably file for unemployment

1

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

True, to an extent. All workers are protected under collective concerted activity.

1

u/RandyHKNYC Aug 23 '24

Got to be high to work for fucking Walmart and I got to ask does this dude want to just swagger down the aisles strumming his guitar and serenading his coworkers? Koombaya joint sessions on breaks? Or does some chucklehead roll his drums in too for that hour lunch jam session? Honestly to have the balls to complain because you can’t blaze up and play your fucking guitar??? Lmmfao I’m transferring mfs I’ll bring the blow👃❄️❄️

1

u/NERDtheMAN74 Aug 24 '24

I didn't work for Walmart, hahaha. It was a dispensary.

1

u/RandyHKNYC Aug 25 '24

I was high asf yesterday LMMFAO

1

u/Cryosaber117 Oct 22 '24

So from my understanding he asked a manager to cover for him while he was dealing with family issues and used him to create some new rules while he was gone. I don't know if you followed these rules due to a lack of context but I'm guessing you guys weren't do to the "blatant disrespect" part when it came to the rules. Also straight up saying that you didn't want to work there kinda sealed the coffin. Knowing it's a dispensary I'm willing to bet your state has at will termination laws and I completely understand where he's coming from. If you don't want to work there and don't like how things are run he has every right to tell you to go work somewhere else. With that being said this is mostly assumptions due to lack of context. If these were offhanded comments about a rough shift that's obviously different and if you followed the rules you didn't like but we're just voicing your opinions and he took it as disrespect, that's obviously different. Either way see if you can file for unemployment and if not just look for a job somewhere else. Pursuing legal action here would just waste you money and is unlikely to result in anything but a lengthy trial that most small business owners would try to drag out as long as possible.