Employers are now more concerned with reputation rather than work ability. Getting fired for something that occurs outside of work is an unruly justification and is subjective. Why should someone who performs their job day-in-and-day-out find himself or herself unemployed for something they depend on to provide financial stability?
Ray Rice should not be fired from the National Football League for domestic violence. Even if Commissioner Roger Goodell had seen the second video of Rice that was released, stamping him with an indefinite suspension from playing on a football field in the NFL has been punishment enough. Domestic violence has been an issue ignored or not taken seriously by the NFL for quite some time.
Dewan Smith-Williams, wife of former NFL player Wally Williams, was a victim of domestic violence in her own relationship.
According to a CNN report, Williams says her husband’s coaches told her to stay silent. Williams believes Rice should not be fired because he’s already being punished through public backlash.
“I feel that he’s being punished because the lights have been turned on,” she said. “He’s being made to pay for things that have been ongoing.”
If you’re a celebrity or grade school teacher, there is an existing factor wherein you must keep a low profile in order to continue paying your bills. In the case of Rice, he should not be taking the heat for a rule that doesn’t exist and the NFL is only now wanting to shed awareness on.
In San Diego just last year, Carrie Charlesworth, a second-grade teacher at Holy Trinity School, was fired for being victim to domestic violence involving her now ex-husband.
According to NBC San Diego, Charlesworth confided with the principal about the abuse problems that she was facing at home home. Her husband later showed up in the school parking lot causing a lockdown at the school. The school responded after by requesting Charlesworth pull out her four kids from the school and take an indefinite leave of absence. Three months later she received a letter from the school stating that she was no longer needed to come back to work.
Employers are tracking employees in their social media profiles. Back in July, Katie Duke, a former nurse at New York Presbyterian Hospital, posted a photo on her Instagram showing what a room would look like after treating a man who had been hit by a New York Subway. According to ABC News, it wasn’t a photo Duke had taken herself but a photo re-posted from a doctor at the hospital. No information was released about the patient via Instagram.
According to ABC News, Duke claims “I was being fired for being insensitive.”
Instagram is form of expression where Duke is allowed to show what she wants about her life. She is simply giving and sharing facts about what she sees every day.
In the case of Charlesworth, the school neglected their ability to offer her help. Instead her job was put in jeopardy and then eventually lost.
Employers should understand how hard employees work on the clock and they should not be scolded for their actions outside of work or how they conduct themselves on social media.
It’s not fair that after all the time and energy that the workers sacrifice, one photo or word on their social media accounts, or one puff of a joint or cigarette, can annihilate their job status due to personal lifestyle opinions of their superiors, managers or employers.
It’s about time to draw a more defined line between professional life an personal freedoms.
