Well, this blog is dedicated to all things stupid going on in America.

On 9/11 Derek Fenton set fire to pages of the Koran at the proposed location of the Islamic "cultural center".  Today, as reported in the NY Daily News, Derek's employer fired him for allegedly violating their "ethics" policy related to the burning incident.  Fenton's employer?  The state run agency NJ Transit. 

How far an employer's reach goes into an employee's personal life has been repeatedly challenged and debated in the courts.  Employers enjoy the right to regulate certain behaviors of employees outside of the workplace - namely that the Courts have given employers the right to fire employees who use illegal drugs on their own time, even if they don't use or are otherwise not under the influence during work hours.

Apparently, NJ Transit, and by proxy the State of New Jersey, feel that they have the right to reach into the off-hours behavior of it's employees, and summarily discharge them if they do something NJ Transit doesn't like.   This is the antithesis of the freedoms we hold so dear - and most importantly the right of free speech and freedom of expression.  Regardless of how distasteful Mr. Fenton's destruction of parts of a Koran were, his employer had no right to control his free speech during his own personal time.

Now, if Mr. Fenton was on Company time, that would be a different story.  But, if he's on his own time, he can do whatever he wants within the confines of the law.  Despite what amounts to harassment by the NYPD, Mr. Fenton violated no law, and NJ Transit had no basis for discharging Mr. Fenton for exercising his right of free speech.

I hope Mr. Fenton sues NJ Transit for wrongful discharge - assuming he was exercising is distasteful but protected right to express himself on his own time.   Corporations do not, and should not be permitted to treat employees as slaves and own our entire waking lives.