Originally posted by Gakus
continue doing it, if he ever tells you that again tell him you know your employee rights and will report him to HR for harassment watch how fast he walks away.

No, it's not his right. It's a place of WORK. Not a place of politics or conspiracy theories.

Just putting that out there.

Originally posted by Blaine91555
Any attorney that would get involved in that would be an ambulance chaser you would not want anyway.

Just so it wouldn't be overlooked.

If you get fired is ATS going to pay your bills? Doubt it. More work. Less surfing.

Originally posted by Office 4256
Apparently you live in Florida, which is NOT one of the "no cause" states mentioned by the second poster. Your supervisor is ignorant of the law and obviously not on the cutting edge of HR policies. He's no doubt also an establishment type. If you were on Winn Dixie property during your lunch break, he could make a (weak) case that you were violating corporate rules regarding "objectionable/controversial websites", but this is usually limited to corporate computers. My advice is to update your resume and put in an application at Publix. The benefits are 100% better and the management is professional. (I am not an employee or shareholder of Publix Supermarkets.)

I hope if you get brain cancer you don't go to ATS for treatment. Office is wrong
"In Florida, employees are presumed to be "at will." At-will employees may be terminated for any reason, so long as it's not illegal. Generally, employees who work under an employment contract can only be terminated for reasons specified in the contract. In Florida, it is very difficult to overcome the at-will presumption."http://research.lawyers.com/Florida/Employment-Law-in-Florida.html.
Are you union? If so, talk to your shop steward now. And please quit looking for legal advice on a discussion board.
And I won't go near a Publix until they come to some agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers over tomato picker's wages. Right now, a tomato picker must pick 2 and a half tons (yeah that's TONS) a day to make minimum wage.

I had a similar experience at my job, working as a security officer. (Of course it wasn't my laptop it belonged to a coworker of mine who owed my captain money and my captain was holding on to his laptop as collateral)

I was in a patrol car together with my captain at an apartment complex pulling security. And he looks over at the laptop and is like...

"Dude wtf are you looking at? ATS? Wtf is that?"
I explain to him what ATS is and he's like... "Dude..." and he takes the laptop from me briefly and he says "Look at this...9-11 conspiracies, politics...Nobody gives a **** about politics. Don't read about that ****! Nobody cares about it."
I ask "Why? It's educational...!"
He says "Dude. I don't care. You shouldn't be reading that because it ****'s you up!"

I explain to him that I was looking at some scientific topics and also looking at UFO and paranormal-related topics more so than I read about political-related discussions. And that even though I was reading about '9-11 conspiracies' as well that I didn't necessarily agree with 9-11 being an inside job.

And he says "I don't give a ****..!" (although he was KINDA joking and being serious at the same time about the whole issue. But he never threatened to get me fired.)

Then he has the laptop and goes on to redtube. And he says "Now bro, I don't have a problem at all with you looking at THIS...! Oh god--look at that ass..!"

And then I say "And I assume your woman doesn't have a problem with YOU looking at that?"

But then later he fell asleep and I logged back on to ATS again. And several more times after that in plain view of him next to me. And he didn't really care anymore. lol

Originally posted by Flakey


Ideological discrimination could be considered illegal. You can not be discriminated against because of your political views.





[edit on 14-3-2010 by Flakey]

That is just flat wrong. They cannot discriminate for reasons that are constitutionally or statutorily prohibited, like age, race, national origin, sex, or disability but they can fire you for any other reason, including politics, eye color,choice of auto you drive to work, etc unless you are covered by a contract, either individual or union. Just like you can quit for any reason.

Sounds to me like your boss likes his facts lied about and distorted.

Bah - go find another job somewhere else. Lots of supermarket type jobs out there - and most bosses could care less about these kinds of sites - and a great many might even like hearing about some of the information. Mine does. He's even asked me for DVDs on Bob Lazar and the whole 9/11 thing.

Edited by realtruth.


[edit on 14-3-2010 by Realtruth]

I'm sorry to hear about this. I have no advice either - as other's pointed out - you'll need to think for yourself on that.

I did have an idea though - other's mentioned that maybe this guy is looking for a reason to fire you. You said you make $15 / hr there. IMO that's pretty good money.

I assumed grocery store workers made minimum wage or possibly a bit more if they had a union.

I live in Chicago and I have no idea how much our comparable stores pay. I'd attempt to find out but I'm sure they don't publish that info.

I do know that there was a big flap here over putting a Wal Mart on the south side - and the big issue was pay - which if memory serves was $10 / hr. Which most felt was not a livable wage. Some wanted it, others did not. I do believe this is *still* an ongoing debate.

Anyway - my point being - maybe you are just getting too expensive for them. I knew this guy who worked retail and he'd been there a long time, kept getting raises, and his boss flat out TOLD him that they didn't book him for alot of hours because he cost too much.

The supervisors and store bosses have people leaning on them to keep costs down. They're ping pong balls. They got people above them leaning on them, they have their staff and the customers on their case at the other end.

The "nice" ones of them actually deserve some sympathy. I imagine its a pretty rotten job.

The nice ones too - they actually have better run operations, more successful. Acting the bully only alienates people in the end. Negative results come eventually.

And how sorry for the bully who can't see the big picture - how miserable they themselves are.

Hope things get better for you. The advice I like best here is to simply keep your personal business outside of work. It isn't fair, but the way I look at it is - don't give 'em any ammo. And the good coworkers and bosses wouldn't care - my worries are the bullies and gossips out there just *looking* for a place to grind their axes - these are the people that do NOT need to know much about me.

Edit by RT

[edit on 14-3-2010 by Realtruth]