ST. LOUIS (First Alert 4/Gray News) – A former teacher at a high school in St. Louis who resigned after her OnlyFans page was reported to district officials has been fired after just days on a new job. Brianna Coppage was a teacher for five years, spending two at St. Clair High School. She was ... Read more
So she was essentially fired for being a comedic actor. Imagine if the restaurant industry had the same policy.
It’s potentially worse, and stupider, than that.
The bank didn’t fire her specifically because she posted the video where she made a couple faces after trying kombucha. They fired her because her face started to get used for the meme. Completely out of her control, because people started posting “thing I don’t like, thing I like” memes with this format, often times with various political messages. Basically someone else used her face in a “this brings joy, this does not bring joy” meme and she got canned because of the bank’s “image.” As if it was actually her saying these things.
I mean, I hope she got a hell of a lawsuit out of that, because damn. Also its a bank so you know they have at least some money.
At Will employment. “In a meme” is not a protected class, and a reasonable bank employee could see her meme-attachment having a detrimental effect on business (you don’t have to be in your reasons for firing someone as long as those reasons aren’t protected or being used to hide that you’re firing them for a protected reason). I’d guess she’d have no case in almost any state in the US with their lack of employee protections.
And to be clear - she probably got unemployment. “At-Will” isn’t a magic spell.
Terminating an employee without cause requires them to pay unemployment.
She was terminated “for cause”. To get unemployment, she’s likely to have to fight for it. She’s likely to win, but it’s not a free thing.
It’s super duper easy. The unemployment office LOVES forcing companies to pay up.
You’re not wrong, but I’ve also worked at companies that successfully contested unemployment claims. It can depend by state, but “it was entirely this person’s fault” is a bad start. Employers win about 30% of contested claims, and then about 15-20% of appeals (#1 cause for an employer losing a contested claim or an appeal appears to be withdrawing or not showing up for it). (Some numbers)
And the main reason employers lose when they show up is lack of preparation. In a case like the above, if they can show a policy (preferably one signed by her) that directly forbids her onlyfans account, they probably have a pretty good case to shut her down.
That said, they’re very unlikely to waste their time and money to fight it. Ultimately (as my current employer’s HR put it) “it’s just a cost of doing business” and a waste of money to pursue.
Gross. Here in Brazil the employers would be bending over backwards to beg her not to sue them for all they’re worth.
Isn’t that where fired comedic actors go after they are fired?