Former Virginia police fired over Rittenhouse donation wants his job back By The Associated Press No

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Former Virginia police fired over Rittenhouse donation wants his job back

By The Associated Press Nov 30, 2021

NORFOLK — A former Virginia police officer who was fired after donating to a defense fund for Kyle Rittenhouse wants his job back now that a Wisconsin jury acquitted the young man of murder during protests against police brutality last year.

Norfolk officials fired former police Lt. William Kelly in April for violating policy by using his work email to donate $25 to a Rittenhouse defense fund. But now Kelly wants to be reinstated, news outlets reported.

News organizations including The Virginian-Pilot reported that they had obtained data from a Christian crowdfunding website that was hacked, apparently showing an initially anonymous $25 donation to Rittenhouse’s legal defense fund was linked to Kelly’s work email address.

The donation carried the comment: “God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong,” the newspaper reported. ... Rittenhouse was ultimately acquitted of murder after fatally shooting two men and wounding another at protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Kelly’s lawyer, Ray Hogge Jr., told WVEC-TV that although Kelly used his work email to donate and comment, he did not violate any department policy. ... “Bill Kelly has first amendment, freedom of speech rights, which have to be honored,” Hogge said.

{snip}

“Every American has the right to make comments like that and make donations to causes that they support,” Kelly told WAVY-TV. “The fact that I’m a police officer doesn’t deprive me of that right.”

{snip}

[Phoenix61]

1. An employer has every right to say what you can

and can’t use their computer network for.

[FBaggins]

3. That would be unlikely to hold up...

... unless they're confident that they've fired everyone else who used their work email address as contact information for personal communications.

[Phoenix61]

4. If he signed off on knowing the policy it's

easy to enforce.

[FBaggins]

5. Only if they're consistent in enforcing it elsewhere

You can't have a policy that is broken regularly without consequences and enforce it selectively.

[Phoenix61]

6. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. nt

[FBaggins]

7. It's not just an opinion. It's a fairly well-established legal principle

I could give you scores of examples

Employers Must Enforce Policies Uniformly

This case is a cautionary tale for employers who believe they have caught an employee "hands down" in a violation of company policy and are ready to terminate. Note that Reynolds candidly admitted that he violated Kohler's policy. Even so, an employer must still be careful to discipline policy violations uniformly, i.e., do not terminate someone for something you only gave a verbal warning about previously.

https://corporate.findlaw.com/human-resources/employers-must-enforce-policies-uniformly.html

[Phoenix61]

8. That article is from 2008. Again, you are certainly

entitled to your opinion.

[underpants]

2. Work email? Dumbass.