The heated topic was in regards to Eastman Kodak.

In any case, Eastman Kodak sent out a company wide e-mail memo announcing "comming out" day...An employee, a millwright I believe, replied with a e-mail of his own, that was widely distributed.

In any case, the employee basically said that he found the memo offensive and was promptly terminated.

Kudos to this employee for standing up! The workplace is just that...one is being paid to provide a service to the employeer. The workplace is not a forum for political, social, religious, sexual views etc!

Apparently the employee who was fired was a mid-level manager who criticized (and thus rebuked) Kodak's human resources policies regarding "acceptance of diversity" among the employees who reported to him. Anyone who manages people for a large company knows exactly how sensitive this diversity thing is and how seriously companies have to take the issue. You can't be managing people and publicly state you are anti-gay and not expect to be targeted for "diversity training" or worse. This guy didn't just complain to his manager either -- he emailed 1000 Kodak employees. Dumb.

Should make an interesting court case...

As a religious minority that has seen his share of discrimination, I am personally AGAINST affirmative action! Acceptance to college, being hired into a position and promotions should be based on ones own mertis and ability ONLY!

I remember a few years ago a case in Texas. A white female, who was at the top of her class, was denied admittance into college (law school I believe) because whe was white. Instead, African Americans, who maintained lower academic standards than this woman, were admitted simply because of the color of their skin. The woman sued and I believe, won. This was a well publicized case a few years back.

When I was in the USAF, we had several homosexuals who "came out of the closet". The problem was that they tried to force themselves onto "straight" servicemen. The result was some well deserved violence directed at the homosexuals prior to their discharges!

<<One of Kodak's Values is "Respect for the Individual", which includes Diversity. At a recent conference, Kodak's CEO Dan Carp said: "Our strength as a company is evidenced by our number of diverse people from all over the globe. and from all walks of life. By the company's commitment - and my own personal commitment to living our values, we are creating an environment where every individual feels part of the team and is encouraged to contribute to their fullest potential.">>

These values are reflected in the company's response to the action it took toward Mr Szabo:

<<“Mr. Szabo was not -- I repeat, not -- dismissed for holding a particular opinion, and he could have expressed it to supervisors or to human resources without negative consequence,” Gerard Meuchner said. “Instead, he sent his message to other people in his department -- about 1,000 people -- and in the company’s view, this act created the potential for a hostile work environment.”

Meuchner said Szabo was told “that the company did not wish to dismiss him but merely to counsel him about why his conduct was inappropriate. He was not asked to admit his opinions were wrong but to acknowledge that the way in which he communicated them to about 1,000 people was inappropriate. He refused to create and sign documentation to this effect, despite repeated requests, knowing that his refusal would result in his dismissal.”

He added that Szabo “has the right to appeal his dismissal with an employee-based dispute resolution panel.”

Rochester’s largest employer has regularly been recognized as one of the best places to work for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees.>>

Political correctness can run amok though. The City of Eugene often requires job applicants to respond in writing to this question:

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Discuss how you have contributed toward a positive and productive environment in a culturally diverse workplace.

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Having to answer that question on a job application infuriates me!! Unless you're a blithering idiot, the only correct response is something very PC and bland like "I enjoy working with all people and I treat everyone equally, as I expect to be treated". DUH!!?? And if you ARE bigoted, are you going to say anything offensive in your reply? What a dumb-ass question. It's pointless.

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The workplace is just that...one is being paid to provide a service to the employeer. The workplace is not a forum for political, social, religious, sexual views etc!

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Well, if that is the way you want it, there should be NONE of the following at work:
religious jewelry, wedding rings, pictures on desks, and definately no "what did you do this weekend" or "how is the family" type discussions. This would be the only way to bring about the work environment you advocate, short of getting robots to do the job.

also

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....The result was some well deserved violence directed at the homosexuals prior to their discharges!

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Danny

I too, am fed up with people claming that some aspect of their personal life should entitle them to preferential treatment in the workplace. One of the most blatent cases of it I came across was in a short-lived job about 6 years ago. The chief projectionist left shortly after I started, and was replaced by someone who flatly refused to work evenings and weekends (no negotiation) on the grounds that she had a baby son, with the result that I suddenly found myself doing 7 nights a week. When I raised this with the manager I was told to 'show respect' to the needs of women staff. I'm sorry, working in the evenings comes with being a projectionist - it's part of the job. If you can't deal with that, find another line of work (that's one of the reasons I eventually did).

I agree that this bloke at Kodak made a pretty serious error of judgement by expressing his views so crudely and in writing, but I can't help sympathising with his reaction. After all, anyone who asserted they had rights on the grounds that they were white, male and heterosexual would instantly be branded a fascist.

Maybe the Kodak incident could have been avoided with a company policy specifying that discriminations of all kinds won't be tolerated, rather than focusing on making things better for a specific group (unless Kodak wants to favor a specific group, which I think is also the right of any private company).

On all workplaces I've been, I just refrained from talking about politics, or never talk to somebody about the fact that he/she was gay/Muslim/handicapped or whatever. I just regarded everyone as colleagues, full stop. And, provided they did a good job within the team, there has never been a problem and I always had excellent relations with everybody.

I wholeheartedly concur with the actions of Eastman Kodak in dismissing an obviously distraught individual. The mere fact that he emailed 1000 individuals is proof enough that he has more pressing stress that he is not dealing with. The mere refusal to even admit that he may have acted inappropriately shows that he is not the type of open minded people that make up the wonderful atmosphere felt by my fellow constituents at Kodak.

I however am very concerned that Kodak would terminate a person for such minimal offences. The very fact that they fired him for refusing to apologize is silly. They should all be sent to jail for getting millions of dollars in Enron style tax breaks."""

Making sure I have both sides of the coin.

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The workplace is not a forum for political, social, religious, sexual views etc!

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-I can understand this comment, but in my experience, people that say this sort of thing ONLY say it when they hear something that they do not agree with. (I'm not directing that at Will, but I've heard statements like that in the past)

Will also said:

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Things like political correctness and affirmative action have run amok!

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In theory, affirmative action is a terrible thing, but there are so many people in power that are racist and/or sexist, that it is a necessary evil. It's sad but true, in my opinion. Unfortunately, no one has been able to put a better system in place. I would love to think that all races, sexes, etc. would be treated equally without it, but in many workplaces, that would not be the case.

Dave Williams said:

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I however am very concerned that Kodak would terminate a person for such minimal offences.

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It's not completely clear that that was the case. Perhaps there was a history there that contributed to the decision. Who knows?

I assume that Kodak was only trying to foster an environemnt in which people of all sexual orientations feel welcome, and for that, I applaud them. I don't see any sort of preferential treatment at work here, at least not in the information provided in here and in the link that David provided. I don't know if I would have dismissed the worker based on this incident only, but clearly what he did was wrong. He was upset for receiving a "political" email, and then basically proceeded to send a "political" email to 1000 other employees. It was a terrible way to handle the situation.

I may have not read the entire incident completely but if this guy's email is constantly flooded with PC propiganda then that is inappropriate as well. Perhaps he felt emailing 1000 coworkers was an "equal time" sort of thing. One thing is for sure, he got more attention to the matter in the manner he chose rather than just whispering to his supervisor. If he didn't like his workplace, possibly mainly due to such items, then he probably is better off not working there and decided to leave in a blaze.

I have a feeling that neither side is squeeky clean on it but I can't think of any company that is perfect nor any perfect employees.

Steve