Blog: UFT

People get fired from jobs all the time - the company isn't doing well and has to have layoffs, the person isn't doing a very good job, there's personality conflicts, or whatever. A lot of workers are "at will" employees, meaning they can be let go for any reason at any time. But I'd bet if you asked most people, they'd believe that the employer has to at least have some decent reason, and if the reason is egregious enough, the employee could sue. After all, people sue for age discrimination, or racial discrimination, or if they are fired for reporting sexual harassment. And sometimes the employee is right, and sometimes the employer is right, but hey, at least a worker can challenge if the reason crosses the line.

But the categories I mentioned, like race and sex and age discrimination, are specifically protected under federal law. What if you got fired because you asked your employer why the people at your company weren't being paid as much as people at another company? Or if you inquired as to why the company didn't seem to be depositing as much money into your 401(k) as they had promised? Or if you talked to your fellow employees about concerns you had, and were fired because you were asking too many questions? I bet most people would say you should be able to challenge that, and if you were otherwise a model employee, the company would be wrong.

Unfortunately, you don't have any recourse if you are fired for asking questions. That is, unless you have a union, which fights for protection against this sort of abuse. My friend Nichole Byrne Lau worked for Wiliamsburg Charter School in New York City. Her students loved her and her boss gave her a glowing review. However, in May she started asking why the 401(k) deposits didn't seem to match what was promised, and why teachers at the school, despite working more hours than public school teachers, were being paid less.

Employees ask questions about compensation all the time - asking their bosses for raises, or asking their companies' HR departments about 401(k) errors. But apparently Williamsburg Charter School's business model is based on paying teachers less than they are worth and less than they could get elsewhere, and trying to keep them from finding out about it, because the moment Nichole talked with a few fellow teachers about these concerns, the school fired her. Even worse, when the Daily News called, the principal claimed that "[Nichole] hates children. She's a racist," a smear completely refuted by both her students and her evaluations, and which he later stopped making once more newspapers started calling.

For more details and links to the many articles in the press today about this issue, see Edwize's great summary.

The popular press is rife with negative statements about unions, like the claim that they make it hard to fire bad people, for example. When I started going to policy forums and met people involved with unions, I asked them to please articulate good, concrete reaasons why the union makes things better. Here's an easy one: someone shouldn't be fired just because she asks questions the bosses would rather not hear.

Update: Mikebot sent this link to New York State at-will employment law:

Q: Can an employee be fired without due cause?

A: Yes. New York State is an "employment-at-will," state. Without a contract restricting termination (such as a collective bargaining agreement) an employer has the right to discharge an employee at any time for any reason. This also protects the employee's right to resign. An employer may fire an employee for "no reason" - or even for a reason that might seem arbitrary and unfair -- and the employee is equally free to quit at any time without being required to explain or defend that decision.

According to that page, exceptions include "discrimination based on race, creed, national origin, age, handicap, gender or marital status"; "political or recreational activities outside of work, for legal use of consumable products outside of work, or for membership in a union"; and for making a complaint about the labor law to the employer or to the government. But trying to organize a union (not what Nichole was doing, by the way), or asking questions about compensation, are among the countless other unfair reasons absent from this list.