My boss told me I can't visit ATS

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.

reply to post by Aliensdoexist


Thats pretty extreme dont you think I mean a baseball to the kneecaps just for being a moron not worth it, anyways If I were you I would quit win dixie and find a better job but after my 2 weeks notice are up I would let him know he's a tool. But I would make sure I would have another job lined up before I took those actions.

[edit on 14-3-2010 by maximiliian]

Originally posted by Iamonlyhuman
reply to post by Misoir

 

My advice to you? DO NOT TAKE LEGAL ADVICE FROM ATS MEMBERS. I cannot believe how irresponsible the people giving "legal advice" are. If you really want to know your rights consult a lawyer - or - just let it go and look for a new job. You can be absolutely certain that anyone giving legal advice based on this thread IS NOT an attorney - and believe me, "at will" employment suits are very complicated. If you go the route of suing... be prepared to spend mega $$$ up front and also be prepared to be up against corporate funds. They can wait you out while you go broke.

[edit on 14/3/2010 by Iamonlyhuman]

Respectfully, unless I completely missed it, no one here is offering legal opinions. If your contention is that people should not even discuss the matter unless they are lawyers, I'm inclined to presume you are a lawyer, or one of their familiars.

You are most correct in warning that this not be presumed to be legal advice. This community shares many different perspectives according our own experiences, I will expect not all comments to be applicable, but I will not presume to take an accusatory stance in characterizing it as shameful.

In the end, the sad truth remains. "At will" means unprotected except by voluntary employer policy. It is the whole point. The issue of termination needn't ever get into the act of firing someone unless the employer be the actor. To go against that requires the courts... and we know where that lead$.

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

reply to post by Misoir

i think u need to purchase a hand-held recorder and get the next
encounter on tape when he tells u that ur fired for this.
when u go on break just set it down beside ur laptop and
let it record. u can always say ur doing a thesis on sounds
encountered in the workplace, lol. If his conversation just
happens to be on it, it's a plus to CYA best wishes

reply to post by Misoir


If your on lunch, your on your time. I see this as a good time for a law suit, go to ATS like crazy... then sue!!!!

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.

Originally posted by Blaine91555
I see everything from advice from inexperienced young people to emotionally charged bad advice.

When at your workplace you must comply with your employers wishes, lunch hour or not. Jerk or not, your boss can let you go without fear. They are paying you, you are not paying them.

When at your workplace you represent the company. Your attire can be controlled, what topics or conversations you are allowed to discuss and what behavior you are to exhibit while representing them.

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

If you are unhappy, keep working, keep your mouth shut and stay there until after you are hired elsewhere. If you want control, start your own business.

Hopefully that job is just to pay for your school. Until you have value, you have no freedom on any job. To get value, you must learn skills, either in school or on the job.

Angry bosses at workplaces like that are the norm. Your boss is stuck in a dead end job himself.

Education is everything in this world and I don't mean what you are learning here.

[edit on 3/14/2010 by Blaine91555]

Oh how I wish you were wrong, unfortunately, the matter of being in a situation of unprotected employee precludes any consideration of the "boss".

Too bad there's no union, eh? But then, this story is about Florida, no? I understand that was to be expected.....

John Voight's Oscar winning moment IMO... it's about my 'problem' with the paradigm here.....



From "Runaway Train" (1985)
[--- Mod's note: PG-13 Language in this scene - apologies for the presumption]

(In the mood for a head-game? While watching this clip. pretend you have to make a choice between 'going for the gold' or not.)

[edit on 14-3-2010 by Maxmars]

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]

reply to post by Maxmars


Life is a challenge under any circumstance.

As an employer myself, its hard to know how to respond to things like this. Fortunately my people almost never leave me, so I don't hire or fire much.

Sometimes though you do have to severe ties with a person over things not easy to define. The last person I let go, did a satisfactory job but was so negative around us and customers I had to let him go. The whole place was in constant turmoil from the moment he walked in the door in the morning.

Sales went up, not down when I let him go, so it was the right decision. Those are hard decisions though. In the end, I can only consider what is good or bad for business. In that case his general hatred of the world had a profound impact on everyone around him.

He called last week. I told him the negative attitude would have to be gone and he would receive no special treatment. He said he had other offers. He lied. I'll end up taking him back because that who I am, he will end up getting himself ran off again, because that is who he is.

In the end, the important thing is finding what we love to do, so we love our work. We define our own surroundings with our own actions or inaction. So who else is to blame but ourselves?

reply to post by Misoir


I have a different situation, but nonetheless, suspicious. I work for a public school corporation, specifically, a middle school. For a couple of years now, sometimes on my lunch break I will go to a libruary computer and access ATS. Last week, Friday, I went to ATS, only to find the sight blocked. At first I thought I had entered incorrect information somehow. I tried again, and again it was blocked. Of course I won't be discussing this with anyone at school, but I find it very interesting after all this time that the site is now blocked.

reply to post by Realtruth


You need to get a refund from whoever gave you your law degree. The store can ban laptops if they wish. Unpaid break or not, he is on the clock on company property.

Your messing with somebodies livelihood and your clearly not even remotely qualified.

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.

reply to post by Blaine91555


You'll get no argument from me. Running a business is a responsibility that must be taken seriously.

My observation is meant for those managers and supervisors who like to pretend that they are doing the employee a favor, as if their labor had no intrinsic value.

The phrase/attitudes about (roughly) "You are getting paid, so do what I tell you." Is a bad sign. Perhaps scrutinizing someone who doesn't 'feel' right can evoke a paranoid and detrimental behavioral response - but maturity is an element that usually allows such potential 'adversarialism' to fizzle out.

In the end, we are the captains of our own destiny to some degree... I think it is safe to say that our work relationships are within that realm of control - barring true defects in leadership, of course.

reply to post by Misoir


I live in the very beautiful ex-penal colony of Georgia, and I recently had to deal with something like this; however, laws dealing with employment differ from state to state, so always check your state law first.
Certain, very particular circumstances fall under federal law, but your situation would most likely fall under state law.

I will tell you some of the highlights of my story and I hope that you can get something out of it.
Btw... I am not offering you legal advice. I am only sharing my experience with you.

Georgia is an "at will" or very deceptively titled, "right to work" state.
This basically means that you can be fired for no reason.
Yes. That is true, but....

What most people do not know is that if you are let go from a job, even fired, then you still can apply for unemployment.
You might not get it, but you can apply.
If you were to be fired, then the best recourse to take, from my experience in the state of GA, would be to apply for unemployment.

You will be denied at first, but that is when you appeal and go in front of an appeals committed and tell them your story.
I have heard of people getting unemployment for being fired for a ridiculous reason, and I have heard of people not getting unemployment for being fired for a ridiculous reason, but the the employer who fired you would be on the hook for paying your unemployment, and you would save the reference.

That is....
If the appeals committee finds in your favor.

I hope that you can glean something out of this.

Edit by RT

[edit on 14-3-2010 by Realtruth]