*Well, aren’t you surprised it took so long for the woman who gave Donald Trump the middle finger as his motorcade passed while she rode her bike in Virginia last month to be let go from her place of employment?
After all, the photo of Juli Briskman, 50, doing what many wished we could do in his presence, went straight up viral. No mistaking what her intention was as a photographer traveling with the motorcade carrying Trump captured the woman — who had yet to be identified — from behind.
Whatever happened to Freedom of Speech?
Briskman was hailed as a hero by many who even thought she should consider a run for office in the 2020 election. And needless to say, comedic Late-night TV hosts had a field day with the story.
But alas, the fateful day of reckoning came for Briskman after she chose to use the photo as her social media profile shot.
Oops.
Briskman, who should consider accepting the moniker “Badass” moving forward, actually walked in to the HR department where she had been working for the past six months as a marketing and communications specialist for the Virginia-based federal contractor, Akima, to give them a heads up about her online fame.
It didn’t take long for her bosses to call her into a meeting, she told the Huffington Post.
?They said, ?We?re separating from you. Basically, you cannot have lewd or obscene things in your social media.? So they were calling flipping him off obscene.?
So they decided to focus on the actual flip off, not necessarily WHO it was directed at, it seems. And if you believe that, well…
Briskman said the company was not happy that she had used the image as her profile picture on Twitter and Facebook, and said it violated social media policy and could hurt the company?s reputation as a government contractor.
Can’t you just see Trump grinning that ‘Gotcha!’ grin. Then again, he’ll probably Tweet about it at some point.
Briskman said she pointed out that her social media pages do not mention who employs her, and she was not on duty at the time the incident took place. She also referenced an incident where another employee had written a profane insult about someone on Facebook, but had been allowed to keep his job after deleting the post and being reprimanded.
But the apparent ?at will? employment laws, meaning private-sector employers can fire people for any reason, came into play here.
Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. The price you pay for bravery and honesty. Nobody ever said life was fair.
Even with her firing, Briskman says she has no regrets for her actions. You go girl! Fortunately for you, all employers don’t share the same vision. I have no doubt @julibriskman won’t be unemployed for long.
#hirejulibriskmannow
