Comment by Nikolas Robinson on May 21, 2009 at 10:05pm

I have a friend (who's actually a member here as well) who was close to 99% certain that he was terminated from a previous employer for the same reason, because he was openly atheist.

Worse than that, he had good cause to suspect that this previous employer was getting in the way when it came to attempting to obtain other employment afterward, when it came to these potential employers contacting the previous one for a reference.

But, like the earlier comment says, employers have all of the cards. They can claim that the termination is for whatever cause they opt to apply, they can claim that the employee quit, that they were routinely tardy, that they exhibited poor work performance, or any number of other things.

Comment by Gaytor on May 21, 2009 at 10:18pm

So he read the website... What's the claimed duration between the reading and the day he asked for the key? Get a hold of his IP address and then correlate it to the websites records. Tight time line shows the likelihood and a civil suit only requires 51% certainty of guilt. If she's willing to sue it'll settle out of court. He can be a Christian all he wants, Insurance companies and their lawyers weight cost to fight versus win ability.

Comment by Johnny on May 22, 2009 at 12:31am

Here's two other articles, one an interview with Amanda Donaldson, the other an interview with Dr. Scott Dawson.

The problem with a lawsuit Gaytor, according to the article "State Labor Law [in Texas] is set up to protect small business. If there are under 15 employees there is nothing you can do about discrimination of any kind, racial, gender, age, religion or disability."

If it is able to proceed, he made two statements in his interview that seem a little incriminating. "It’s a Christ-oriented office, they [employees] need to be on the same page I am." When asked if he only treated certain people he replied "No, I treat anyone, but I’m a person of faith, connected to God, and I’ll hire anyone who is qualified." However, he then immediately added, "but I do not want to hire anyone with a different world view."

Comment by Gaytor on May 22, 2009 at 11:19am

I'm willing to bet that the Fed Dept of Labor would disagree with the state and overrule them. State Gov must meet Fed Standards, then they can be tighter, but not looser. For example, i work in multiple states. Rules vary for construction safety, but OSHA sets the minimum. Washington and California have rules that are more stringent, but it would be illegal to say that your fall protection height starts at 14 feet in a state while OSHA says that it's 10 feet. As a result some states it's four feet or Six.
The Fed Dept. of Labor equality rules would super cede Texas. I'm certainly not an attorney, but that would be the first I've ever heard of a state being able to not follow the Feds as a minimum.

Comment by Johnny on May 22, 2009 at 11:51am

Good point, that would probably be the direction she needs to go then. Now that she has filed things at the state level, she need to start filing at the federal.

Comment by Rev. James Thomas Hicks, D.D. on May 22, 2009 at 11:59am

Oh Jebus, she'd better be goin' to a federal level. We're talkin' Texas here.

Comment by Dave G on May 22, 2009 at 12:31pm

Like Georgia, Texas is an 'at will' state, so he can claim he fired her because he didn't like her hairdo, and that'd be legal.

Comment by Rev. James Thomas Hicks, D.D. on May 22, 2009 at 12:36pm

Kentucky is the same way.

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