QUESTION
Can a employee get fired for flipping of a customer after the customer threatened him
Asked on Apr 21st, 2013 on Automobile Accidents - Ohio
More details to this question:
My son works in a drive thru and the computer system was slow or down and a customer got made and started cussing him out and told him that he was going to pull him thru the window and beat him up so my son said go ahead and then he flipped customer off. Then customer came into the resteraunt and told the manager he deserved a apologie or he was going to choke him. Manager walked customer out the door and then he told my son that when store manager comes back from vacation he was probably going to be fired. Now my son is 17 years old and this man threatened his life twice and the manager didn't do anything to protect my son like calling the police with the license plate #. Can they fire him because of this situation. Please help
1 ANSWER
Dear Christine:
Ohio is an at-will employement state, meaning that if you do not have a written contract of employment with your employer, then you can be fired for any reason or no reason at all (other than for protected discrimination- i.e., age, gender, race, religion, etc.). So long as you did not have a written contract of employment, then legally the employer is allowed to terminate you for any reason or no reason. If you did have a contract, then you need to review the contract, as the terms of the contract control regarding termination.
Given the nature of his job, I presume there was no employment contract. Therefore, he can legally be fired for any reason or no reason.
Good luck to you and your son.
Answered on Apr 26th, 2013 at 3:32 PM