The Freedom To Get Canned Over An Orange Shirt

You know what "At-Will" employment or "Right-to-Work" employment means?  It means that you have zero protections in that state as an employee.  It means unless the reason is strictly prohibited by state law, you can be fired for any reason.  Any.  Reason.  At All.  Like, say, wearing an orange shirt.

They weren't wearing sagging pants or revealing clothing. But dressing in an orange shirt is apparently enough to get fired at one Florida law firm, where 14 workers were unceremoniously let go last Friday.

In an interview with the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, several of the fired workers say they wore the matching colors so they would be identified as a group when heading out for a happy hour event after work. They say the executive who fired them initially accused them of wearing the matching color as a form of protest against management.

Orange is widely considered to be one of the most visible colors to the human eye. Orange vests are worn by most hunters as a safety precaution and by school crossing guards. Most prisoners are required to wear orange jump suits.

The color orange is arguably Florida's defining color. The self-described "Sunshine State" is widely known for its orange juice exports.

The law offices of Elizabeth R. Wellborn, P.A. offered "no comment" to Sun-Sentinel reporter Doreen Hemlock, but four ex-employees tell the paper they were simply wearing their orange shirts to celebrate "pay day" and the upcoming Friday group happy hour.

Nope.  Fired.  All of them.  On the spot.  No redress of grievances possible, no recourse under the law, no anything.  Out the door and gone because they showed enough esprit de corps at the workplace to wear the same color shirt. And under Florida law, and laws just like it in 22 other states, too bad.  All of them gone, no questions asked.  It doesn't matter.

We are told this is "freedom" for employers, and that without this "freedom" then workers would surely suffer as job creators would go elsewhere, to other right-to-work states or to other countries.  Without the ability to summarily fire you for anything short of blatant discrimination codified into law (which is something that becomes 100% the burden of the employee to prove, in all 23 states), why you wouldn't have a job at all.

So consider yourself lucky if you live in any southern state, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, Utah or Nevada and have a job.  It's only because your employer can fire you for your shirt color that the job creators are even bothering with you.

Back to work, peon.