Political? Or Just Slimy?

Stephen Gardner's former employer responds to charges that they fired Gardner for criticizing John Kerry.

While they state a standard-sounding case...:

For purely financial reasons,we had to reduce management expenses.A decisi n was made to
consolidate field management from five managers to three.The tw affected field managers resided in
the areas where our business had the most significant decreases.Mr.Gardner was one of th se
managers.

...but then they note:

To help offset the elimination of Mr.Gardner ’ s supervisory position,Millennium offered Mr.
Gardner other non-supervisory work,which he decided not to take.

...which is a pretty standard dodge that companies use to avoid having their unemployment insurance rating dinged. It's not a layoff, if the person quits (because he doesn't want a job many grades below his or her qualifications).

So there is deniability. Whether it's genuine or merely plausible is still up in the air.

Posted by Mitch at December 1, 2004 07:40 AM | TrackBack