A recent USA Today story points out how off-duty behavior can affect an individual’s job. The story points out a few examples, such as bar staff at an Atlantic City hotel who can be suspended or fired for putting on weight, or a woman who was fired for having a John Kerry sticker on her car and an employee of a Budweiser distributor who was fired for drinking Coor’s beer.
Is this appropriate? In some instances it can be. If the behavior directly relates to the job then it would be appropriate. Now would sporting a John Kerry bumper sticker on her car affect a woman’s job packing insulation? Probably not at all and in this case her firing would be unjustified. And for the Bud guy drinking Coor’s? Probably not either. Perhaps if he was wearing a Bud uniform, it could be, but in ordinary clothes and on his own time? Come on!
