Thread: Advice needed - Patriot fired for activism??

Say there is someone who worked his job for 4+ years without a problem. More recently, the owner of the small company of about 12 employees had been making negative comments about this person's political activism, specifically, his involvement with public protests.
This week, the patriot was fired under false pretenses (although this job was as an at-will employee). He is apparently being accused of theft from the business, and a police investigation is underway relating to that.
The patriot has NOT stolen anything, and has even at times turned in to his boss, other employees' bags of misplaced money when found.
He has talked to the officer and agreed to take a "stress test."

So, what do you guys and girls think about this situation, and what advice would you offer? Should he get a lawyer or wait until/unless charges are filed?

Please help. We can't have our American patriots snowballed by corrupt employers/police/whoever else for being politically active.

This is not legal advice, if this person was my friend I would tell them to get an attorney now! Don't take any test or make any statements to anyone period. Lawyer up. If they have no money and CANNOT AFFORD A LAWYER, same advise.If the police try to question him, just ask "am I a prime suspect in a crime, if they say yes then a lawyer will be appointed to them free of charge. If they had enough to arrest then they would never ask for a "stress Test", call a lawyer and get real legal advise.

If its employment at will that means an employer can fire someone with or without cause. So I think hiring someone is a waste of money, but he could try and protest and get people together to boycott the company on basis of bad employee treatment, bad word of mouth is really bad for business and that would do the most damage to the company. Good Luck.

I would assume if the police are involved, then the allegations of theft might warrant this 'patriot' to contact a lawyer to preserve those rights he has. The issue of termination seems to be a separate issue which can be discussed after the theft issue has been resolved.

Generally, as you probably already know, an at-will employee can be fired "for good cause, or bad cause, or no cause at all."

If this were me, I would NOT wait to find a lawyer and for several reasons.

For starters, it is amazing just how quickly this will STOP if it is a case of malfeasance on the employer's part and they realize that they do not have a defenseless victim they are able to bully and intimidate.

Secondly, should this continue, it will be very important for this person to have legal counsel protecting his/her rights and best interests every step of the way.

And lastly, this person may have a cause for action against the employer and an attorney will be able to look into that and advise accordingly. At will employees are not necessarily at the mercy of unscrupulous employers without any recourse.

.

The two issues are connected if he was terminated for theft

At will means just that, but if someone commits a crime at work, then they can be denied unemployment . lawyer up

If after 4 years he was just let go, them the company would have to
pay unemployment (the state)

Thank you everyone. I know how hard it is to believe every story you hear online, but this is for real.

The activist said thank you all very much and he is going to see about getting a lawyer first thing in the morning.

They are two separate issues from a legal stand point, as a charge of theft is a criminal action, whereby a wrongful termination is a civil action. Of course an attorney might argue the employee was wrongfully accused of theft in order to terminate him, possibly for his political activism.

Issues of unemployment compensation insurance can certainly be adversely affected based upon the outcome of the theft allegations.

Your Sixth Amendment right to counsel does not kick in until you have been arrested and read your Miranda rights. Being a 'prime suspect' does not activate those rights. The right to remain silent is not predicated upon being charged with anything and is always a good idea to exercise.

Of course this is not any type of legal advice...just friendly discussions based upon, a hypothetical situation....

Originally Posted by jimpasz

The two issues are connected if he was terminated for theft

At will means just that, but if someone commits a crime at work, then they can be denied unemployment . lawyer up

If after 4 years he was just let go, them the company would have to
pay unemployment (the state)

You've brought up a very good, and important, point Jimpasz.

It wouldn't be the first time that an employer concocted a "theft" or some other "good reason" why they have terminated an employee in an effort to block UE benefits.

This practice is an extremely common one aimed at "at will employees" and most often utilized when an employer is seeking to get rid of full time and/or higher paid employees, and those with benefits. This way they can then bring in part time and/or minimum wage employees and provide no benefits.

I have known people this has happened to and some have actually been able to win their rights to collect UE, with the help of an attorney, after proving that their employer was full of it.

"At will" does not automatically translate to "out of luck" but it's a common misconception that it's what it does mean and employers count on that misconception to get away with all kinds of things.

There is another way to go. Have that guy write a story about what happened and put it on the internet. That would give that business a lot of bad publicity which is what they deserve. If they would fire him on the basis of loving his country then they will get what they asked for.