I should probably start by pointing out that I have no
issue, ethical or otherwise, with people who earn a living by taking their
clothes off in public. In previous blog posts I have brought you the stories of
women who proved that every so often a stripper really is just dancing to put
herself through school, and I’ve run across stories of others who have used
such jobs to survive when their companies went under or their industries
crashed. There are some negative aspects of the job, as there are in any
occupation, but most of those result directly from the actions of management or
the customers, and very few of them actually compare to having to clean the
Incontinence Supplies aisle of a drug store because the janitor called in sick
yet again, just to take the obvious example. But what happens when the stripper
in question is one of your employees – and you don’t run a strip club?
Consider, for example, the curious case of a reporter for
the Houston Chronicle, who also
happens to moonlight as a stripper. As reported on CNN this past week, Chronicle reporter Sarah Tressler had
put herself through college as an exotic dancer, and still picks up the
occasional “shift” at a club in Houston because she enjoys the work, and claims
that it’s also good exercise. However, when the newspaper found out about her
side job they informed Tressler that she was being fired for not telling them
about stripping on the side, despite the fact that her work had been highly
regarded to that point, and despite the fact that the paper has no regulation
against reporters working side jobs. Ms. Tressler is suing for wrongful
termination, claiming that this job action is discriminatory; presenting the Chronicle with a bit of a problem – and us
with a question of ethics…
On the one hand, there are certain types of business where
reputation and image are important, and the news media are definitely one of
those. Any news story depends at least in part on the reporter’s ability to
gather, analyze, and present information, and it can be difficult to take that
presentation seriously if the person making it is someone you have seen
performing in a strip club. In fact, until such time (if any) that the negative
connotations of being a stripper are no longer associated with that occupation,
it may be to the disadvantage of any business to have those connotations
associated with any employee who needs to operate in a position of authority or
expertise. Unfortunately, the common perceptions are sometimes wrong – and even
when they’re not, the choice to fire someone on that basis may still be
discriminatory…
On the other side of the issue, firing someone for working a
second job when your company has no policy against moonlighting is unfair, and
firing someone for working a specific type of job while ignoring all others may
very well be discriminatory. Given that the vast majority of all exotic dancers
are women – and that men performing the same function are not perceived as either
promiscuous or incapable of more complex tasks – the reporter in our CNN story
may indeed have a case; if there are male reporters on the Chronicle staff who work as strippers and have not been fired for
doing so, the case may be open and shut. And even if it isn’t, we should
probably remember that only a century or so ago most actors and actresses were
also considered little more than well-paid prostitutes – and most beat reporters
were considered little more than illiterate errand-boys, useful only for
relaying information to the re-write men in the City Room who would then write
the actual stories…
So let us ask the question bluntly: Does an employer have
the right to terminate an employee for doing a second job that the employer
feels reflects badly on the company? If they feel that such an association will
negatively impact their business, do they have an ethical responsibility to
their stockholders, employees, vendors and other stakeholders to terminate the
individual with that association? Does an employee have an ethical obligation
not to take actions – including second jobs – that will reflect badly on his or
her employer? Does our answer change if that employee is a man or a woman, or
if that employee is so badly compensated that he or she needs the extra income
in order to survive? Or does every man and woman have the right to do as they
like with their off time, and does the company have an ethical responsibility to
respect their decisions and their privacy?
It’s worth thinking about…
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