Does my employer have a right to fire me over mocking their credo? 12-03-2009

We have a credo that says colleagues will treat each other with dignity and respect. This is rarely enforced and not exemplified by many employees. My comment was; "Some people think the credo is crap". Is this cause for termination?

Ann Kiernan replies:

Based on what you have written, I think you are out of luck. As an at-will employee, you can be fired without just (or any) cause, as long as the firing was not for an illegal reason (discrimination, whistle-blowing, harassment, etc.). While company credos or values statements do not create enforceable contractual obligations, see, e.g., Flizack v. Good News Home for Women, Inc., 346 N.J. Super. 150, 164 (App. Div. 2001), an employer is entitled to discipline or fire employee who mock or refuse to follow them.

The only exception I can think of is if a company credo somehow violated an employee's religious beliefs. Then, the company would be obliged to try to find a reasonable accommodation, if possible. In Buonanno v. AT&T Broadband, LLC, 313 F. Supp. 2d 1069, 1077 (D. Colo. 2004), an employee refused to sign a company diversity philosophy statement that required him to "value" the beliefs of others. The employee, a Christian who believed that the Bible is divinely inspired, said he recognized that individuals have differing beliefs and behaviors and he would not discriminate against or harass any person based on that person's differing beliefs or behaviors, but that he could not sign the company statement if it required him to "value" conduct that was condemned by Scripture. He was fired, and brought a federal lawsuit for religious discrimination. The judge found that the employer made no efforts to accommodate the employee's sincere religious beliefs before firing him, and awarded the employee backpay, frontpay, emotional distress damages, lost 401(k) matching contributions, and prejudgment interest.

Good luck in your job search.

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