'Pro-marriage' sign leads to firing

'Pro-marriage' sign leads to firing
Company says message on pickup could be considered harassment

A Virginia man claims he was fired from his job because a message on the window of his pickup truck supported a proposed state constitutional amendment on marriage.

Luis Padilla, who worked in the human resources office at Cargill, the international provider of food and agricultural products and services, wrote on his vehicle's rear window, "Please, vote for marriage on Nov. 7."

Virginia's proposed amendment would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

An attorney for Cargill, Al Sufka, says Padilla was dismissed for insubordination, because he did not remove the message, which company officials say could be considered harassment, the Harrisonburg Daily News Record in Virginia reported.

The 40-year-old's actions, Sufka said, created an environment inconsistent with his role in human relations.

"Although Mr. Padilla is clearly entitled to believe whatever he wants, he has no legal right to act in a manner that violates our company policies of equal employment opportunity, non-harassment and tolerance of differences."

Cargill spokesman Mark Klein explained the message was considered harassment because people who complained about it said it offended them.

As WND reported, Cargill is among the companies given a perfect score of 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign's 2006 Corporate Equality Index, with policies beneficial toward homosexuals.

Padilla, a Honduran in the U.S. on a work permit, told the Virginia paper the issue is about more than getting his job back, it's "about honor." His supporters call the company's response discrimination against Christians.

Padilla said he parked in the company parking lot for two days before he heard of a complaint about the message, the Daily News Record reported.

He complied when a supervisor told him to remove the message. The next day, Padilla put the message back on his truck and parked outside the company gate. But later he was told the company owns the land where he parked.

Padilla received permission to cover the message with cardboard and appealed his case to a superior official.

Padilla said he was dismissed after a regularly scheduled manager's meeting.

"If this happened to me, it can happen to anyone," he said. "Not just on this issue, but on any social issue."

Padilla sought the help of a former Rutherford Institute employee, Rita Dunaway, who wrote an Oct. 12 letter to Cargill General Manager Wesley Carter, calling the company's treatment of Padilla "unacceptable."

Padilla's firing "not only reeks of discrimination and hostility toward Christians, but is nothing less than a clear example of corporate bullying," she wrote.

Dunaway demanded Padilla be given restored with back pay and an apology.

"Apart from the legal ramifications of this case, you must also be aware that Cargill faces a potential public relations nightmare in the event that this travesty of justice becomes known to the local media and, through them, to the rich community of faith in the Shenandoah Valley."

Cargill attorney Sufka said the company neither opposes nor supports Padilla's beliefs regarding the marriage amendment.

"When ordered to do something relatively simple – remove from his truck two signs that other employees could have reasonably construed as a show of hostility and intolerance toward homosexuals – Mr. Padilla decided to ignore the warning and disobey the order.

"By refusing to obey the order, he demonstrated that he could not be trusted to enforce and promote our employment policies because his personal beliefs mattered more to him."