Kingwood waitress fired for photo that went viral

[TexasTowelie]

Rachel Ali was fired from her job at Los Cucos in Kingwood after a photo of her went viral.

Ali can be seen flipping off a Harris County Sheriff's patrol vehicle in the image she shared on her Facebook page. The post has now been shared thousands of times and has provoked a flurry of negative reaction on social media.

"They're disgusted, especially by seeing this happen so close to home," Tom Moore, President of the Harris County Fraternal Order of Police, told KHOU. "I think she's going to learn from her actions that there's consequences and they're not all good. She needs to be unemployable in the service industry."

By Monday morning Ali was fired from her server job at the suburban Tex-Mex restaurant. She says the photo was originally shared in May, before she began working at Los Cucos.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/kingwood/news/article/Kingwood-waitress-fired-for-photo-that-went-viral-10792937.php

[madaboutharry]

1. Flipping someone or something off is protected

free speech under The First Amendment. Although she had a job were she was employed at will and could be fired without cause, these stories are always troubling. That is especially the case when the firing occurs due to a non-work related incident.

[Sherman A1]

2. Agreed

I also find it disturbing that she was fired. However, there is a use of judgement that sometimes eludes those posting things on social media. I think she had every right to do what she did, I don't think it was particularly wise to do so, but she was not doing anything that affected her work in any way and I do not believe she should have lost her job.

[metroins]

5. Posting racist stuff on Facebook

Should they lose their job for that?

Both scenarios could cause the business to lose customers because people don't want to patron a place employing the person.

Personally, I don't care, but I can see why she was fired.

[LisaM]

4. And it happened before she had this job.

Pretty scary if they can fire you for a non-work related incident when you didn't even work somewhere at the time.

[Abnredleg]

6. The First Amendment Restricts Government Action

It doesn't apply to privately-owned businesses.

From the American Bar Association:

First Amendment limits only the government’s ability to suppress speech. It provides that “Con­gress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.” Courts have extended this prohibition to all feder­al, state, and local government officials but have consistently emphasized that the First Amendment’s strictures do not apply to private-sector employers. Accordingly, the only people who enjoy First Amendment protection vis-à-vis their employers are people employed by the government.


That's why we tell all our staff to very careful about what they post on social media.

[safeinOhio]

3. I always thought they meant

I'm number one, thank you very much.