Unlawful Termination?

Hi! I am a professional who had a career as a Cash Manager. I have an accounting degree as well. During my personal time, I enjoy modeling for my "adult" website. I was fired from my position after being employed with the company for over 3 years. I've always had positive reviews and have never been told I had done anything wrong. Suddenly I was called into a conference room and told "the partners have become aware that you are maintaining a website and wish to terminate your employment". I was shocked that this could be done with no explanation at all. I personally do not maintain the site. I merely supply pictures to a company that posts them on a site for me. Do I have a case? I sit here thinking this is so unfair. I don't understand how they can tell me what I can do in my spare time. Especially if it in no way was effecting my work. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

1 answer  |  asked Sep 19, 2001 09:40 AM [EST]  |  applies to Illinois

Answers (1)

Aaron Maduff
Terminated for Appearing on an Adult Website

As a general principal, in Illinois you can be terminated for any reason or no reason at all. At the same time, you can quit. Employment is "at-will", e.g. at the will of the parties; there is no definite term to your employment. (There are exceptions of course such as race discrimination, retaliation, etc. But if the employer's reason has to do with appearing politically correct to its customers, that does not fall into this category.)
But there are several facts that an attorney would need to examine this case from all angles. Do you have a contract with the employer? Is the employer a public (state or municipal) entity? If so, there may be freedom of speech issues. Depending on the city or county you are in, and the nature of the content of the website, there may be other claims covered by municipal ordinances.

posted by Aaron Maduff  |  Sep 20, 2001 9:05 PM [EST]

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