No Legal Advice Here

I have a co-worker (who also happens to be a house-mate). We had been working together at the same company for two weeks when this individual was fired this week due to inappropriate use of company property (extremely inappropriate web-site browsing) coupled with over-anxiety for a skill-test. I work at a security monitoring center where we are required to be level-headed at all times. When the date of the skill-test drew near, my former co-worker began to panic and spent the last two days before the test stating that they would be better off resigning, at times openly panicking during training and once bursting into tears.

Anyways, that problem became moot after it was discovered that my former co-worker was browsing the web, on company computers and going to extremely inappropriate websites. This person was subsequently fired the following Monday.

My house-mate is now intent on filing a law-suit against the company on charges of discrimination, stating that the company discriminated by firing this person because they were too emotional for the job. I believe that this is a waste of this person's time, due to the other factor involved in the termination

My question is this: is my house-mate (former co-worker) within their rights to file charges against the company based on what has transpired?

Discrimination is such a threatening word. It sounds like you have a real grievance when you say, "but they discriminated against me!" Well, discrimination isn't illegal. (What!?!?! Of course it is.)

No, it isn't. We all discriminate all the time. We make decisions based on characteristics. (I discriminate against all sandwiches with mayonnaise. Blech.) I also discriminate against people who show up to job interviews inappropriately dressed. (Ladies, leave the Daisy Duke shorts at home. Okay, that was when I worked for an auto parts wholesaler, and I wasn't conducting the interview, but the woman didn't get the job and the entire office talked about her for weeks.)

Now, there is a chance your house mate could win a claim based on a violation of the Americans with Disability Act, but given that he (to my knowledge) never asked for accommodations for such a disability, I think this is a long shot. Besides, someone who is too emotional to actually do the job may not have a reasonable accommodation available to him.

If I was the HR person handling that, I would take his threat as an empty one. Why? If he's been looking at "inappropriate" websites, that is a slam dunk in and of itself. (Of course, I'm now waiting for someone to send me a link where a court said that looking at "inappropriate" websites at work was due to a mental problem covered by ADA.) This is a situation where a termination for cause applies, and I would even fight unemployment. Because I'm just that mean.

No, it's not that I'm just that mean. Some things are just INAPPROPRIATE for work. Period. That is one of them. "Inappropriate" websites don't just prevent the person from doing his/her work, it also opens the company up to lawsuits. You don't believe me? Read yesterday's post about a bad radio station.

Tell your housemate that he made a big mistake and he better darn well not do it again and he should go out and try to find a new job. Preferably something that doesn't bring out the emotional stress level this past one did.