If you skip work to protest and get fired, you should...

"If you skip work to protest and get fired, you should..."

  • find a new job because you were irresponsible.

    Votes: 21 87.5%
  • Get your job back if it was for a "nobel cause."

    Votes: 3 12.5%
  • other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    24
The more I read the more I think the US is a very very strange country! Luckily, I don't live there, I reckon I wouldn't hold my jobs for very long!

If you didnt show up for work, I doubt you would either. They look suspiciously at those funny talkin' euro-pea-on types.
 
You skip work and get fired, go get a new job and be grateful for the oppourtunity. Not calling because of some sort of emergency is one thing, but skipping out to protest? It's irresponsable, and who wants an irresponsable employee?
 
I'm with the majority. If you skip work to protest and you're fired, find a new job. Because someone has the right to do something, doesn't mean there aren't consequences. It’s like yelling fire in a crowded theatre; you can yell fire, you have that right, but you will have to pay the price for it.
 
What strikes me is that most of you think from the perspective of the employers. Overhere we think more from the angle of the employees. It is almost unthinkable that you would get fired if you call in and say that you are going to a legit demonstration. Of course if it is the Mickey Mouse Club there will be consequences, but for something like this...... nope, I'll still have my job the very next day.
 
Ted said:
What strikes me is that most of you think from the perspective of the employers. Overhere we think more from the angle of the employees. It is almost unthinkable that you would get fired if you call in and say that you are going to a legit demonstration. Of course if it is the Mickey Mouse Club there will be consequences, but for something like this...... nope, I'll still have my job the very next day.

Legit or not, do it on your own time. When you are employed by a decent company, they contract you to work on the days you are scheduled unless you request it off (2 weeks in advance), are sick, use a personal day, are on vacation, or it's your birthday. Whatever it is, the key thing is that you let them know in advance so they can make up for your spot that day, week, month, etc. You are contracted to work FOR THE COMPANY, not for them until a "legit demonstration" comes up. Seriously, I could care less if my employee were at his mom's funeral as long as he called in to let me know.
 
Ted said:
What strikes me is that most of you think from the perspective of the employers. Overhere we think more from the angle of the employees. It is almost unthinkable that you would get fired if you call in and say that you are going to a legit demonstration. Of course if it is the Mickey Mouse Club there will be consequences, but for something like this...... nope, I'll still have my job the very next day.

That's all well and good if you have personal days or sick days to take, but what happens when you don't and you lay out of work anyway? That's on you.

Who decides if it is legit or not, anyway? That's a personal opinion. I personally don't see it as a legitimate reason to lay out of work, and if I owned a business I wouldn't allow a free vacation to those that felt it was while requiring those that didn't to carry their load.

I'm not looking from any perspective but one of personal responsibility. If I tried to call out for a protest and my employer said "no, we need you today" I'm going to work. If I called and said "Hey, I'm taking one of my personal days," and he says "Okay." Then it isn't a problem.

It doesn't matter WHY you're calling out. Protest, you're sick, you want to stay home and play video games. If you've not got the days to take (ie, you've already been absent too many days) or your employer tells you "no," at that point, it becomes your own personal choice. You do what you have to do, and he does what he has to do. You gotta live up to the consequences of your choice.
 
As I said..... funny cultural difference! We parted long ago with the black and white approach. So we've found another thing we are different at! Isn't life great....
 
You can't skip work if you haven't previously asked for a day off following the regular agreements of your contract. If you do, they should be allowed to fire you.
 
We parted long ago with the black and white approach.

The only way it could be black and white is if no matter why they weren't at work they were fired. For example, they're sick, they get a call from the boss saying don't bother coming back. That would be black and white.

But here, they skipped work, did not tell their boss, and now they get ants in their pants because they were fired. I'm sure some asked for the day off, some of the boss' may have granted them the day off, others most likely did not, those employee's still did not show up, and now they have ants in their pants as well.
 
I guess it is a cultural difference. But one I would not be able to accept. Like PJ24 said, it is a matter of personal responsibility. Too few people actually accept responibility for their actions. They are always trying to say it is someone else's fault.

If my employees left me in the lurch because they decided they didn't feel like showing up to work I would be more than a bit peeved. If it cost me money then there are any number of things I might do. If they have a history of being a poor employee then I would likely fire them. If they were average I would likely give them a few days off without pay (When I feel I can spare them of course). If they were a good employee then I would make sure they were aware that if they skipped again they would face similar consequences listed above.

From the employee standpoint, I would accept the fact that if I skipped a day and didn't call in, or otherwise notify my employer that I was not going to be in to work, I would face penalties. Even if I called in and told my employer that I would face being fired for skipping a day of work I would accept that. I would make dang sure I went in to work though so I would not lose my job.

As so many posted above me have said, it is not a matter of politics, it is a matter of work ethics. If you decide to skip work for whatever reason then you should be prepared to face the consequences.
 
Have y'all heard about the nation wide protest on May 2nd I think? I've heard rumors but nothing solid. I hope a lot of them loss their jobs, they need to sit down and readjust their priorities. If the scuttle butt proves to be true that is and it actually happens.
 
Hold on here guys. Where did the "not call in" bit suddenly come from? Even in Holland this will have consequences. If I don't show up and don't call I'll probably receive a written statement that I'll lose my job the next time I do that. You need two of these statements at the least to have me fired. If a company wants to fire you and you have a indefinate contract, they need to do that via a judge. You can't just fire somebody for no good reason. But if you have two of these statements in your personal file, things do get a lot easier.
Therefor I would always call in a say that I won't work because I am going to use my right to protest. Employers could still give me such a written statement but it would carry much much less weight then one for being unannounced awol.
 
Ted said:
Hold on here guys. Where did the "not call in" bit suddenly come from? Even in Holland this will have consequences. If I don't show up and don't call I'll probably receive a written statement that I'll lose my job the next time I do that. You need two of these statements at the least to have me fired. If a company wants to fire you and you have a indefinate contract, they need to do that via a judge. You can't just fire somebody for no good reason. But if you have two of these statements in your personal file, things do get a lot easier.
Therefor I would always call in a say that I won't work because I am going to use my right to protest. Employers could still give me such a written statement but it would carry much much less weight then one for being unannounced awol.

Well, the calling in thing was the key concept in whether or not an employee shold be fired or not; not if he/she went to go protest. If you request a day off to go protest, your employer is not obliged under the Constitution of the US to let you because you can do it in your own time. If you don't request a day off and join the local protest on your way to work, then you can get fired even if you use the good ol' "It's my Constitutional right" excuse. I guess the key thing is to come up with a good excuse (i.e. one of the special day(s) I mentioned in my previous posts) and pray your boss doesn't find out the truth [Hey I need a day off because I'm sick.... *and you get caught at the local baseball game....*].
 
"ahem...*cough cough*... boss, yes uhm I was *cough *cough protesting against the cheerleaders' skirt length...uhm, see you tomorrow at work?"
 
Luckily I used to word "legit" in relation to the protest. The legitimacy has to be reviewed by a judge. If he/she says it is okay to protest against the certain cause, the employers will have a hard time firing you.
Of course you could use a free day, but why should you. You get paid 80 or 100% and you keep your free day. Why do you boss a favour when you don't have to. I know I wouldn't do mine the favour. But if it is a small company and a nice boss, well I might consider it.
 
I think it kind of depends on what is being protested...If it is affecting you personally, like terrible work conditions or looong hours.(12...not 9-5) But if you are working in a business and nothing is affecting you at all and you still go out to protest and miss work, fired. If it is something in your place of work, like the examples above, then you should keep your job and hopefully reach some sort of compromise on what you were protesting.
C/2Lt Robot, whats going to be protested?
 
From what I heard it's to protest the employees being fired. And, if it's true, the protesters won't go to work, won't shop, things like that. If it's true, it won't do much damage, while they're whinning and crying millions of other Americans will be working and shopping. If they don't like it here I've heard Canada is a nice place to live.
 
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