The discussions of the Shirley Sherrod case has been interesting and thoughtful, except when they reflect shock that a worker would be so mistreated. Missing is an appreciation of how unremarkable it is for US workers to be fired for no good -- or a provably bad -- reason and have no viable recourse.
The discussions of the Shirley Sherrod case has been interesting and thoughtful. Missing is an appreciation of how unremarkable it is for US workers to be fired for no good -- or a provably bad -- reason and have no recourse.
Bob Herbert's column asked why no one in the administration said "[y]ou can't fire a person without hearing her side of the story. This is not the Kremlin."
Most people in the US do work in the Kremlin (ok, I don't really know anything about the history of Kremlin employment policies). Can you be fired because of a demonstrably false accusation? Yes. Do they have to listen to your side? No. CanMyBossDoThat.com is a non-profit website about workers’ rights. Daily we hear from workers whose basic rights are violated and yet they have no viable recourse. The same day Shirley Sherrod was unfairly targeted, a man told us about being fired when he was accused of theft. Subsequent investigation cleared him and his boss even apologized. But his job was gone. Yes, that’s legal.
Bosses can fire a worker for a stupid reason, or no reason at all. Protections are narrow unless workers have a union or are public employees (some of whom have civil service appeal rights). You can fight your firing if you can prove that it was because you are in a protected minority (in most states that's age, sex, race, religion, national origin).
CanMyBossDoThat.com has heard from more than one worker who was tasered by their bosses -- just for fun or hazing. Their jobs are not protected if they file criminal charges. They cannot stand up to the person who assaulted them, because they will lose their job. Of course, the most common violations we hear about are workers having their wages stolen or being misclassified as independent contractors (with even fewer benefits and protections).
What are the ramifications for our country, aside from individual injustice? Workers who have no assurance of fairness are less able to speak up. Workers on the BP oil rig say that they knew of safety problems, miners in every one of the recent mine disasters worried about the unsafe methane levels, BP's clean-up workers try to leak information about conditions unsafe for workers and the environment. Whistleblower protections are so weak and drawn out as to make them impractical for workers in most situations. These are workers who want to speak up but must balance the real likelihood that they will lose their jobs: with job protection, their voices could prevent ecological and human tragedy every day.
So, good news for Shirley Sherrod -- at least they didn't taser her?