Fired Florida Home Depot Employee

I chose to cut up my Home Depot credit card and mail it to the CEO of
Home Depot. I will shop at Ace Hardware and Lowe's from now on. And
if I hear of them firing someone for wearing a pin refernces God or
other religious signs I will boycott them also. I may not hurt their
business, but if I can get a few more people to stop shopping at Home
Depot then we will see these managers stop harassing employees

Wear a poppy. Afterall Nov.11 is coming very soon.

No apology necessary. This complaint has nothing to do with HD's being
patriotic or not. It has to do with company policy and how an employee
was trying to get around it.

Because the person chose to go against company policy regarding the
dress code you now call them un-American. And with your last comment
regarding prayer...this says more about this issue than anything else
in your letter.

Then don't work there. It matters not how long the pin had been worn.
The point simply is that Home Depot has the right as his employer to
dictate what he may and may not wear while he is on duty and
representing the business. Period.

The man's personal views are his business, but they are not relevant
to his job. Unless his theology dictates that he MUST wear such a
button (as some do regarding wearing a specific piece of clothing or
keeping hair in a specific manner), then this is not religious
discrimination either.

I read this story. "Keezer argued that he had been wearing the button
since March 2008 without incident until earlier this month when he
started bringing a Bible to work". Then HD management decided the pin
was religious and demanded he remove it. Apparently they then looked
at it differently.
After a year of the pin being worn, I don't see how he could be forced
to discontinue wearing it. I understand he violated company policy on
the pin situation, but that policy was in effect for the last year
also.
I don't think Mr. Keezer should make scream and yell about this being
religious (although it appears to be true, but about the length of
time he has been wearing the pin.
Just my humble opinion.

i just had a thought, i know it kind of goes against my earlier post
but here goes: we cherish and embrace democracy and freedom of speech
and religion in our personal and public lives, but most of us a re so
quick to embrace a dictatorship and a stripping of these rights the
moment we punch the clock.

So what if he wore a pin showing a Nazi swastika. Would you be jumping
up and down defending his right to "free speech"? It's the pin, not
the subject, grasshopper...

He needs to follow the dress code of his employer. No pins. Period.

I have a pin that shows concern for starving children. I can't wear
it at work so I put it on my coat and respect my employers dress code.
After all they pay me.

I posted the exact same thing on the other HD letter:

Ok, I am a deep Christian myself, but this is a workplace blanket
policy. He was not fired for wearing a pin mentioning God, he was
fired for not complying with written policy which states that no pin
may be worn unless sanctioned by the company. I think it sucks that he
got fired for it, but as a Christian, I believe he will get his reward
in heaven.

It is your choice not to shop at Home Depot anymore but keep in mind
that the content of the pin had no bearing on his termination.

People agree with Home Depot, well, that is why United Staates is the
way it is today.But we live in a democracy, so you have the right to
your own opinion, and so do I. I personally dont agree with HD, and
the best way for me to let them know is not buying in their stores,
believe they will get the message. You dont agree with HD dont buy
there as simple as that.

Living in Fl I saw this on the news last night about 10 times. He
wasn’t fired for religious reason (even he stated it wasn’t about god,
but about supporting his country).

So you can take religion out of the equation. When he was offered a
Home Depot approved pin supporting our country he refused it.

In my opinion he was just being stubborn and refused any compromise.
Regardless of the fact that he wore it for over a year without a
problem, he was not in compliance with the dress code. Its not his
fault but management for letting it go so long.

Now even though he said in an interview (several actually) that it was
about god, but country, he is now suing for....that’s right violation
of his religious beliefs. So it started off as a HD doesn’t support
our troops, and because you can’t sue for that, it turned into a fight
for religious rights.

He wasn't fired because he wore a pin that supported the troops or
mentioned God, he was fired because he violated Home Depot's
established dress code. The firm I work for has a dress code and
people can and have been fired for not adhering to it.

At our firm, we are not allowed to wear T-Shirts or sweatshirts with
logos on them on casual Friday. So even on Friday, I cannot wear one
of my Harley T's or sweatshirts. The only T's with logos allowed are
the ones that have the company logo.

...your job is not an appropriate place to openly display your
religious/political/personal beliefs, as this gentleman was doing.
You do that on your own time, not when you are being paid to fill a
position.

This kind of a dress code is pretty standard practice, by rejecting
HD's approved pins, he proved his real concern wasn't for supporting
the troops, it was for promoting/displaying his religious beliefs
while on company time.

Before you get upset about someone being "denied" the ability to
display their beliefs while on the job, what if it was something that
offended YOU? Would you be ok with it then? Or would you rant about
that business supporting something offensive?

And yeah, it would be nice if people knew the entire story before
screaming: "OH YOU BAD PEOPLES YOU MAKE ME SO MAD!!!" but I don't know
if that would even matter here. :D

To get a little off topic, wearing a pin that says "I support our
troops" isn't supporting the troops. If you REALLY want to support
the troops, find out what you can donate to make them more
comfortable, help their families in their absence, send cards or
whatever. Write letters to your congressman and voice your concerns
on policies that affect the troops. Put forth some actual effort. A
pin or a bumper sticker means NOTHING and is the WORST kind of
armchair activism.

What have YOU done for your American troops today? What are you going
to do tomorrow? Think about that before you start ranting about a
pin. Seriously.

in which case i can fully support HD's decision.

since they have a policy against wearing non-uniform buttons then they
have the right to enforce that policy

as i said over at My 3 cents... this is a business, not a personal
podium for an employee to voice his or her political or religious
views.


and it's not much different than the rules we had to obey in the
military. we weren't authorized to put on pins or buttons while in
uniform (except of course for any pins that were an authorized uniform
item for that individual person)


the only other exceptions to this i can think of... well it wasn't
buttons, it was hats. on my first ship they let us donate $5 a week
to CFC (a giant charity). but even then we couldn't wear any hat that
was offensive.

i of course found a way around that - i wore that ball cap to the USS
Hawkbill cos their hull number was 666. Yes i offended someone. No
they couldn't do anything about it. >;-)



basically... he should ahve jsut been creative about it. maybe he
could have worn it on a watch or something... ;-)

All arguments aside, where was he wearing a pin that supports the
troops?

No version of this, even from the man that was fired and his lawyer,
includes a description of the pin including words that explicitly
support troops. You do know, jsa, right?

HD says that offered him a patriotic pin, but he declined it. Let's
be clear: he declined to wear a pin that "supports the troops." Had
that been what mattered to him, he would have proudly worn the pin
provided by HD. He did not, so we can only infer (as you have) that
he must not support the troops. What other reason could he possibly
have for turning down their obviously patriotic pin?

The employee was out of dress code. HD policy states that hey are not
allowed to wear buttons that are not given to them by HD. He was
given an option of wearing a HD approved patriotic button and refused.
Read the ENTIRE story.

From Foxnews.com:


"Report: Florida Man Says Home Depot Fired Him for Wearing 'One Nation
Under God' Pin
Monday, October 26, 2009


A Florida man says he was fired from his job at The Home Depot for
wearing an American flag pin that said "One nation under God,
indivisible."

Trevor Keezer, 20, said he had worn the button ever since he started
working at the home improvement retailer 19 months ago. He said it was
his way of supporting U.S. troops, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Keezer, whose brother Army Spc. Steven Keezer Jr. is set to return to
Iraq in December, said none of his supervisors had anything negative
to say about the pin until last month when he began bringing his bible
to work, the paper reported.

"That's when I was told it had to come off, or I would be sent home,"
Keezer told WPTV last week.

"So they sent me home for six straight days without pay. And then
today they terminated me."

Home Depot spokesman Craig Fishel said he could not comment
specifically on Keezer's termination but said, “The company’s dress
code policy states that we do not allow non-company buttons,
regardless of their message or content.”

Fishel said The Home Depot has its own sanctioned patriotic pins that
employees have the option to wear.

Keezer said he opted to wear his own pin instead because none of the
company's pins mentioned God.

"You can't have country without God," said Keezer, the Sentinel
reported"



I am with Home Depot on this one. I am a military spouse. I am the
daugher of a vetaran. But I still know that somethings are not
allowed at work when it comes to dress code.

don't need anyone praying for me. I wouldn't mind if they prayed for
information, though. The average person wouldn't be hurt by knowing
all of the facts to any given story.

Seems like an appropriate button to wear at an establishment that
serves the public, but that isn't what the button said.

There is a lame attempt being made by the affected party to use the
fact he has a family member in the military as justification for
wearing a button with "God" on it. I'm not buying it, and evidently
his management didn't either.

I wonder how people would feel if HD employees wore buttons that said
"Support a woman's right to choose," "Legalize marijuana," etc etc.
Quite simply, it wouldn't work.

I am on HDs side on this one. It WAS NOT what it said, it was the
FACT that it was NOT a HD issued button. I am sure if it said "One
Nation Under Allah" he would have Still been fired. Then again, would
you have stood up for him and still not shop there if the button DID
say, "one Nation Under Allah"? HD gave him a chance to remove it. He
refused. He's gone. End of story.


I will NEVER understand why some one, who is NOT apart of the
situation, just READ about it, writes a letter. There are TWO sides
and the press knows if they sell it as "Fired for "Under God" Button"
instead of "Fired for Non Standard Issue Button" It will get read
more and there would be more heck raised. Which would YOU read? One
is a story, one is NOT.


There is more than one God in this country.

The employee was in violation of company policy by not wearing a
company approved pin. He was offered an alternative patriotic pin, but
declined. It sounds like the store made an effort to accommodate his
desire, but he refused.