Posted on 04/21/2007 5:58:54 AM PDT by NYer
A call center employee says he has been dismissed from his job for posting an artist's rendition of the crucifixion during Easter week, even though other employees were allowed to post pictures and art as they chose in their cubicles.
Chris Romansky, a former employee of Barclays, told WND he was told there had been a complaint about the picture he put up to remind himself of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, a foundational belief in Christianity.
A company spokeswoman, Donna Sokolsky, told WND that the job termination "had nothing to do with anything religious whatsoever." But she said she was not permitted by human resources to know "more beyond that."
"What I CAN tell you is that Barclays has very strict policies around nondescrimination (sic), especially religious. I cannot speak for this particular individual's situation but I know that there was no religious descrimination. I do not think you have a story here."
She followed up several days later with a formal, unattributed statement, "We do not discriminate or take any action based on religious affiliation."
Barclays PLC, according to Sokolsky, is a large global financial service provider, offering banking, investment banking and investment management services. It operates in more than 60 countries and has 110,500 employees worldwide.
Romansky told WND his dismissal was effective April 13, and he has contacted state labor regulators about filing a complaint.
"We're actually allowed to hang up pictures on our cubes. I had a picture of my wife, and there's a cross in the background but that didn't seem to bother anybody," he said. He also had posted a couple of Internet clippings, but those generated no response either.
Then during the Easter season, he said, "I hung a picture of the crucifixion, actually it was before Easter. It was of the crucifixion of Jesus and it showed the Resurrection and it said 'Happy Easter.'"
"I came in on the following Tuesday, and it was face down on my desk, so I put it back up," he said. Then a team manager came and told him there had been a complaint that it was "offensive" and he had to take it back down.
The manager called him into her office. "She told me people were offended, and she told me anything with Jesus and God can't be up," Romansky told WND.
The manager told him to leave the building. "She took copies of the pictures," he said.
Several conversations with managers and the human resources department followed, Romansky said.
"She [the manager] then called me and told me they're going to have to let me go," he said. He said he'd never even been "corrected" before by the company, and she responded that he was being dismissed for insubordination.
"I said I want [copies of] all the corrective actions. I want an explanation," he said.
He said the "complaint" about his Easter picture may have been in retaliation, because earlier he had complained about the crudity of the conversation in the office.
"I feel I was singled out," he said.
“had nothing to do with anything religious whatsoever.” But she said she was not permitted by human resources to know “more beyond that.”
I don’t think that answer is going to sell in Peoria. The fired employee says it was religious, so it would seem that if they have another explanation, they had better explain unless they want us to draw conclusions of our own based on just one side of the story.
There is no excuse for this. I hope the fired worker sues and collects a boat full of money, and that the people who fired him get fired themselves.
If this isn’t discrimination, there is no such thing as discrimination.
Makes me think of the Office episode where the picture of babies wearing ties and playing musical instruments offended one of the co-office workers. Hilarius episode!
Lawsuit! Liberals never learn.
I've often wondered if some of these folks are just downright possessed.
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To avoid dealing with the nuances of the law, I'd assure everyone that he wasn't fired over the picture.
In fact, I believe any employer shoould be able to fire any employee at any time for any reason.
I hope he calls the American Center for Law and Justice! http://www.aclj.org
"She told me people were offended, and she told me anything with Jesus and God can't be up"
These people have a controversy with God.
Well, there are members of another religion that get very offended about Easter.
So, please tell us about that. I hadn't heard that one.
Prude: someone who won't lower himself to my level.
Religious persecution. I think he has a day in court coming, if that is what he wants to do.
Now for the first time I understand why God’s name is used in so much profanity in movies,tv and people who call themselves Christian.I wish Christians could come together and bring more attention to this evil of using Gods name in such an abusive matter. And when people say g-d this and g-d that it makes my stomach cringe,and I try to politely ask them not to do so.
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