I’m putting this in MPSIMS rather than GQ because I’m more musing about it than seeking out a factual answer about the law (although I’ll take one if someone happens through who can shed light on it).
Basically, 2 of my co-workers and I decided to go grab some pizza for lunch, and our new boss happened to be strolling through the department as we were making lunch and asked us if he could join us. He’s only been with us for about a month, and none of us know him all that well yet (him being the uberboss and not the kind of co-worker you get all chatty and friendly with…you know?), so we said sure. I figured he just wanted to get to know us a little better, and thought that buying us lunch would be a good icebreaker.
Anyway, about halfway through lunch, we got on the topic of this guy who used to work for us who was a total slacker and we were regaling our boss with stories of the stupid crap this guy did that miraculously didn’t result in his getting fired (he’d left the company voluntarily about 6 months ago). This segueways into our uberboss telling us this story about how a manger working under him at his last job came in one day and told him that he’d taken some clients out to a “gentleman’s club” and they’d seen their receptionist working as a stripper at the club. Uberboss goes on to tell us how he instructed his guy to get rid of this girl, to fire her because of her part-time job at the club.
We all sort of laughed, not knowing what to think and not willing to challenge him on it because we don’t know him all that well and there’s talk of layoffs at our office and no one wants to rock the boat or draw a target on their own forehead. But I’ve been wondering all afternoon if this was even legal. Are you allowed to fire someone for holding a part-time job like that? He made it very clear that she always dressed conservatively at the office, that she was bright and good at her job, etc. He simply didn’t want “someone like that” working for him.
I wanted to ask him whether he fired the guy who saw her there. I mean…if it’s immoral and skanky to do it, is it not as bad (or worse) to watch it? And take your clients there?
I’m under the impression : Stripper does not equal Hooker. I mean, if she were a prostitute, that would be, um, ilegal. IMHO, your boss is an asshole. Too bad you can’t tell him off.
Well, it depends on the state. If you live in an at-will state, he can fire her for whatever reason he wants.
I would surmise it wasn’t because of her stripper job, but because some clients saw her. It wouldn’t look good for the company if they showed up at the office and saw her greeting them in the lobby.
Was it a lowdown thing to do? Probably. Is it illegal? Maybe not, but IANAL.
Well… each to his own , but if I was running a business that had to maintain a fairly professional image to the public and I found out I had a local stripper working the front desk and greeting clients I might well have a problem with that.
People have to make hard decisions about what kind of image they present. I do not and would not discriminate on the basis of race, creed or gender, because besides being illegal, it makes bad business sense, however, I would not want a local stripper working as a receptionist in my business. At some point she would be recognized and while you can point (with some justification) at the recognizer and say “How dare you judge, you were there gawking at her”, at some point it becomes common knowledge and it would reflect negatively on the professional image most businesses are trying to present.
People can do whatever they want within the bounds of legality but a if a person decides that stripping is a valid career choice you had better expect some other career doors to be closed while they pursue this calling.
ivylass, the incident took place in Florida. I’m not clear on the whole “at will” concept…I guess I thought that regardless, there were certain things you couldn’t discriminate on, and considering that he fired her after telling her that her other job was the reason, I’d think she’d have a legitimate claim.
Ringo, I didn’t get that impression from the way he told the story, but I could be wrong. She asked him outright if it was the nature of her other job that was the reason she was being let go, and he said yes. He even told her that if she would give up the other job, he’d keep her on. She declined, saying that the only reason she kept the daytime job was because it gave her paid benefits for her and her daughter, and that she made $1-2k per weekend at the other job.
astro, I still find it overbearingly hypocritical that anyone can claim to be trying to preserve a “professional image” while simultaneously finding it acceptable to take clients to strip clubs and gawk at naked women, and then refusing to employ someone who acts/dresses appropriately and is otherwise good at her job while in a “professional” setting because of something she’s doing in her own time that’s no one’s business but her own. But that’s just me.
I wasn’t speaking to the issue of idiot salespeople or account reps that would take clients to a strip joint. I would fire people like that even if they were “producers”. I was responding to the more general issue of having a stripper as the initial face of your business. Being a stripper is by and large a fairly distinct personal choice, and reflects an attitude about sexuality and personal display that some may find empowering, but many others (including a fairly high percentage of women) would find distasteful. The lives we choose to lead are not sealed compartments, and while her choice of occupations may be her business at the strip club, in real world terms it becomes my business if clients or other employees would be uncomfortable or distracted by her presence as the front face of the business.
If the local PETA chapter refuses to employ a administratively competent, but well known local fur trapper as a receptionist I think they are well within their rights to do so. If the local NOW chapter refuses to hire a convicted rapist who served his time and was released as a receptionist, I think they are well within their rights to do so. The local Lambda chapter not hiring a receptionist with a Swastika tattoo on his calf is a perfectly valid choice. If the people you hire have a history, in the real world that history comes along with the employee. You can’t just park it at the door
The process of deciding not to hire someone because you or your clients might object to them and your business could suffer is obviously a slippery slope that each employer must negotiate based on both the law and common sense business acumen.
Known (or soon to be known) strippers as receptionists strike me a potential problems and I would seek to avoid hiring that job combo if could help it
And unfortunatly, the fat cats and their cigars can go to the stripper club with impunity and the dances can not be the receptiones in that same office of fat cats. Sucks rocks but…
The World is Round,
It is Not Fair,
It is Just Damn Round !!!
She should have already had a story worked out in case her day job were at stake. Something like, “Oh, yeah. People tell me all the time that I look just like a stripper they saw last Saturday.”
Jadis, if taking clients to strip clubs garners more business for the company, and having employees seen working at strip clubs hampers business, then obviously this overbearing hypocrisy works.
Manager goes out after work with male coworkers to strip joint. Sees female clerical worker moonlighting. Fires clerical worker.
This one has a happy ending to its hypocracy, as the man not only showed poor taste in attending a strip joint with his male co-workers, but also bad judgement in shortly thereafter chasing his secretary around the desk. And got his ass canned.
But the stripper didn’t have recourse. Chin up though. She made more money stripping than answering phones.