‘God Bless America’ Gets Veteran in Hot Water With Employer :Richard Sharp
http://www.kcra.com/news/hospital-places-veteran-on-leave-over-god-bless-america/-/11797728/22982620/-/1548npwz/-/index.html#ixzz2ku8XYbdj
A Dameron Hospital employee who is also a veteran said he was asked last week to remove his email signature that read, in part, “God Bless America.”
Boots Hawks served the United States for 20 years in the Army, he said Thursday, adding that he has been a good employee at Dameron Hospital for 10 years.
But when Hawks wanted to seek legal counsel about a request to remove the words “God Bless America” from his professional email signature, he was met with resistance, he said.
Still, Hawks said he complied.
“I removed the signature before I sent another email,” Hawks told KCRA 3.
But on the Friday before Veterans Day, he said he was placed on administrative leave for insubordination — all because of the signature, which had contained the “God Bless America” phrase for more than a year before the hospital brought up the issue.
“I was shocked,” Hawks said. “I think Dameron Hospital provides fantastic care to people. And I hate to see bad publicity, and I don’t mean for this to be bad publicity. I just see that we need to have justice done.”
KCRA 3 has reached out to Dameron Hospital for an explanation, and to see if company policy forbids such email signatures.
The hospital has not returned calls.
Hawks contacted the Pacific Justice Institute, a legal group that now represents him.
The institute told KCRA 3 the hospital might be breaking the law.
“We are aware that other members of the hospital management circulate mass emails which include philosophical statements,” said Matt McReynolds, the attorney handling the case, in a letter to Dameron Hospital. “We know of no legal authority that would justify your censorship.”
Hawks said he was asked to return to work the day after Veterans Day.
He would like to have “God Bless America” back in his email signature, but for now, is leaving it off.
“I believe in America and I believe in God so strongly, and I believe that America needs the blessing,” Hawks said.
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