When I first heard about this story I assumed that it was a company filled with UT haters in College Station.  Nope.  According to the Sun-Sentinel, it was a law firm in Florida.  One Friday, a group of employees at the law firm of Elizabeth R. Wellborn, PA decided to wear orange shirts so that they would all stick out later that day when they went out to happy hour at a local spot.   That afternoon all 14 were summarily fired without explanation.  Maybe the boss didn’t get invited?  Maybe their supervisor wasn’t loved as a child?   There is no way to know because the law firm refused to comment. 

In any case, I absolutely love this story.  I just always thought blue was the color at issue.  I commonly tell employers that Texas is an employment “at-will” state and they can fire employees for good reason, bad reason, or no reason – as long as they don’t do it for an illegal reason.  I then illustrate the point by giving this example:  If Suzy comes in wearing a blue shirt and you suddenly decide for some reason that you don’t like blue, you can fire her!

I can now die happy.  My utterly ridiculous example to prove a point has now become reality!!  And the employer was cautious enough to follow another long standing piece of advice I just covered in my recent post on terminations:  Don’t give a reason.