Court Upholds Dismissal of Anti-Gay Employee

SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett-Packard had the right to fire an employee who posted anti-gay messages at his cubicle to protest the company’s diversity policy, a federal appeals court in San Francisco has ruled.

HP fired Richard Peterson, who worked in the company’s support division in Boise, Idaho, because he displayed passages from the Bible about making gay sex punishable by death.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday that Peterson had not been a victim of religious discrimination. The Palo Alto-based company had the right to enforce an even-handed policy against harassment and discrimination, the court said.

Peterson, who had worked at HP for more than two decades, said he had been singled out. Other employees were allowed to display religious symbols and pro-diversity posters, he said.

But Judge Stephen Reinhardt said Peterson had been fired because he had “violated the company’s harassment policy by attempting to generate a hostile and intolerant work environment” and had disobeyed managers’ orders to remove the postings.

Read Another Article

Suing for separation of church and beans
Grave robbing trial begins in Newark

Related News Articles Topic(s): Religion in the Workplace Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Religion in the Workplace Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog