Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Rioters Fired, Face Company Boycotts After Storming Capitol
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
January 9, 2021

Share

NEW YORK — A printing company in Maryland saw the photo on Twitter Wednesday night: an employee roaming the halls of the U.S. Capitol with a company badge around his neck. He was fired the next day.

Others are facing similar repercussions at work for their participation in Wednesday’s riot at the U.S. Capitol. Some business owners are being trashed on social media and their establishments are being boycotted, while rank-and-file employees at other businesses have been fired.

The printing company, Navistar Direct Marketing, declined to name the worker but said it can’t offer employment to people “demonstrating dangerous conduct that endangers the health and safety of others.”

More than 90 people have been arrested since Wednesday when loyalists to outgoing President Donald Trump disrupted lawmakers as they met to confirm the Electoral College results and President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. People on social media have been trying to identify rioters photographed or filmed at the Capitol Wednesday, pressuring companies that employ them to fire them.

At a data analytics firm in suburban Chicago, the employee in question was the top boss. Cogensia placed CEO Bradley Rukstales on a leave of absence for participating in the riot and said his views don’t represent the views of the company. Rukstales, who was arrested for unlawful entry, told a local CBS news channel that he had entered the Capitol and apologized for his role in the events. Calls and emails to Rukstales weren’t returned.

Most Private Employers Can Fire Workers for Attending Protests

A Cleveland school occupational therapist resigned from the district after her alleged involvement in the riot. A spokeswoman for a fire department near Orlando, Florida said one of its firefighters was being investigated for his participation. Sanford Fire Department firefighter Andy Williams has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome, said spokeswoman Bianca Gillett.

Most private employers can fire workers for attending protests, since First Amendment rights only prohibit people from being punished by the government for their speech, not by a private employer, said Susan Kline, an Indianapolis-based labor and employment attorney at law firm Faegre Drinker.

There are some exceptions. Those who work for the government may be more legally protected, and so too are many unionized workers, who typically have a contract listing the reasons for which they could be fired. And some states may have laws that protect workers’ free speech.

But “what people did at the Capitol Wednesday was rioting, not protesting,” said Aaron Holt, a labor and employment attorney with law firm Cozen O’Connor. “When someone violates the law, that’s almost never going to be protected, and a private employer is going to be within their rights to discipline or take some kind of action in response to that that might go against their fundamental core values.”

Small businesses are also facing backlash on online review sites such as Yelp, which flagged at least 20 businesses for unusual review activity related to Wednesday’s rioting.

One business, Becky’s Flowers in Midland, Texas, is owned by Jenny Cudd, a former mayoral candidate who posted a video on Facebook bragging that she had broken into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. By Friday, Cudd’s flower shop was flooded with dozens of one-star reviews in which she was called a traitor and domestic terrorist, along with photos of her inside the Capitol. Reached by text message, Cudd said she was not available to speak Friday.

Social Media Has Outed People for Their Involvement in Activities

Yelp has flagged businesses for unusual review activity following less egregious but still controversial events. Reviewers raged on on the Yelp page of Virginia restaurant The Red Hen after it booted former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders from its establishment a few years ago. And commenters from the left and right bombarded Big Apple Pizza’s Yelp page with political beliefs after former President Barack Obama was enthusiastically hugged by a customer there.

Social media has outed people for their involvement in activities outside of the workplace, landing them in trouble with their employers. In 2017 after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, many posted photos on social media of those who participated, leading in some cases to their firing.

In Louisiana, customers said they would boycott supermarket chain Rouses Market after retired owner Donald Rouse was shown in a photo at Wednesday’s riot. Rouse said in an email statement that he attended the rally as a supporter of the president but left before the violence began.

“I’m horrified by the violence and destruction we saw yesterday and the pain it has caused so many,” Rouse said. “Our country desperately needs to come together to heal, and I will do everything I can to be a part of that process.”

The Krew of Red Beans, a group which organizes parades, posted on Instagram that it would return $20,000 in donations it received from the market.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

‘Once in a Lifetime’ Snow Hits Parts of the US South

DON'T MISS

Trump Temporarily Halts Leasing and Permitting for Wind Energy Projects

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Who Dealt Deadly Fentanyl Pill Gets 80-Month Prison Term

DON'T MISS

What’s Next for EVs as Trump Moves to Revoke Biden-Era Incentives?

DON'T MISS

US Throws out Policies Limiting Arrests of Migrants at Sensitive Locations like Schools, Churches

DON'T MISS

Visalia Police Find Man Shot Near Shopping Center. Tips Sought.

DON'T MISS

Convicted Jan. 6 Rioter Benjamin Martin Still Going to Prison

DON'T MISS

Is Lawsuit on Planned Reedley Job Center a ‘Shakedown’?

DON'T MISS

Much of the Damage from the LA Fires Could Have Been Averted

DON'T MISS

CA Sued the Tar Out of Trump the First Time Around. How Did It Do?

UP NEXT

Musk’s Straight-Arm Gesture Embraced by Right-Wing Extremists

UP NEXT

Trump’s Executive Orders: Reversing Biden’s Policies

UP NEXT

Trump Returns to Power After Unprecedented Comeback, Emboldened to Reshape US

UP NEXT

Trump to Release Records on the Assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King

UP NEXT

Walmart Breaks into Luxury Resale Market, Will Offer Chanel, Fendi, Prada, Other Brands

UP NEXT

The Big Chill: Siberian Air to Make Trump Swearing-in Coldest in 40 Years

UP NEXT

Proposed Rules Would Require Nutrition Info, Allergen Warnings on Alcohol Labels

UP NEXT

South African Police End Mine Rescue Operation With at Least 78 Dead and 246 Survivors

UP NEXT

Google Signs Deal With AP to Deliver Up-to-Date News Through Its Gemini AI Chatbot

UP NEXT

Jeffrey Epstein’s Estate Got a $112 Million Tax Refund

What’s Next for EVs as Trump Moves to Revoke Biden-Era Incentives?

47 minutes ago

US Throws out Policies Limiting Arrests of Migrants at Sensitive Locations like Schools, Churches

53 minutes ago

Visalia Police Find Man Shot Near Shopping Center. Tips Sought.

1 hour ago

Convicted Jan. 6 Rioter Benjamin Martin Still Going to Prison

2 hours ago

Is Lawsuit on Planned Reedley Job Center a ‘Shakedown’?

2 hours ago

Much of the Damage from the LA Fires Could Have Been Averted

4 hours ago

CA Sued the Tar Out of Trump the First Time Around. How Did It Do?

4 hours ago

Israel’s Top General Resigns over Oct. 7 Failures, Adding to Pressure on Netanyahu

4 hours ago

Musk’s Straight-Arm Gesture Embraced by Right-Wing Extremists

5 hours ago

A Heavy Favorite Emerges in the Race to Lead the Democratic Party

5 hours ago

‘Once in a Lifetime’ Snow Hits Parts of the US South

A winter storm sweeping through the U.S. South on Tuesday was dumping snow at levels millions of residents haven’t seen before. Moistu...

13 minutes ago

People walk past the 1900 Storm memorial sculpture on Seawall Blvd. during an icy winter storm on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025 in Galveston, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
13 minutes ago

‘Once in a Lifetime’ Snow Hits Parts of the US South

The five turbines of Block Island Wind Farm operate, Dec. 7, 2023, off the coast of Block Island, R.I., during a tour organized by Orsted. (AP File)
42 minutes ago

Trump Temporarily Halts Leasing and Permitting for Wind Energy Projects

Photo of Mexican Oxy, fentanyl laced blue pills
42 minutes ago

Fresno Man Who Dealt Deadly Fentanyl Pill Gets 80-Month Prison Term

President Donald Trump talks about the Endurance all-electric pickup truck, made in Lordstown, Ohio, at the White House, Sept. 28, 2020, in Washington. (AP File)
47 minutes ago

What’s Next for EVs as Trump Moves to Revoke Biden-Era Incentives?

A Border Patrol truck rides along the border wall in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP/Andres Leighton)
53 minutes ago

US Throws out Policies Limiting Arrests of Migrants at Sensitive Locations like Schools, Churches

Police are investigating after a man was found shot near a Visalia shopping center and transported to Kaweah Health.
1 hour ago

Visalia Police Find Man Shot Near Shopping Center. Tips Sought.

2 hours ago

Convicted Jan. 6 Rioter Benjamin Martin Still Going to Prison

2 hours ago

Is Lawsuit on Planned Reedley Job Center a ‘Shakedown’?

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend