A cashier for a Florida Home Depot named Trevor Keezor was fired on Friday for wearing a pin on his apron that says "One nation under God, indivisible."
Keezor said that he had worn the button for over a year to support American troops, especially his brother who was in Iraq. He also said that after he started reading his Bible at lunch, Home Depot asked him to remove the pin. Home Depot defended its actions by saying that employees are not allowed to publicly state personal beliefs and that the button was a violation of the dress code.
Kara Skorupa, Keezor's lawyer plans to sue Home Depot. She said "There are federal and state laws the protect against religios discrimination. It's not like he was out in the aisles preaching to people."
Unfortunately for Skorupa and Keezor, it will be difficult to win a lawsuit of religious discrimination. Home Depot is a private business so they don't have to abide by the free speech provisions of the First Amendment. Furthurmore, Keezor's button is not a traditional form of a religious display.
Wow! Whatever happened to freedom of speech, and anyway "One nation indivisible under God" is a quote from our nation's pledge of allegiance so i don't see why someone shouldn't be allowed to wear a button with these words on it. I understand if home Depot dosn't want its employees preaching to and possibly scaring off customers, but it sounds like Keezor was not doing anything that could be considered directly approching customers about his faith.
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