Workplace WTF: Florida Law Firm Fires 14 People for Wearing Orange

Would you fire someone for wearing this color?We totally understand that certain articles of clothing -- skimpy sundresses, flip flops, tiny tank tops, short shorts, "All the Cool Girls Are Lesbians" T-shirts -- violate office dress codes and should never be worn to work. But the color orange? Really?

Welcome to Yahoo! Shine's new series about ridiculous-but-true office horror stories, Workplace WTF. Today's installment comes to you from Florida, where 14 employees of the Deerfield Beach law firm of Elizabeth R. Wellborn P.A. found themselves unemployed last week after they all wore orange shirts to work on the same day.

"I'm a single mom with four kids, and I'm out of a job just because I wore orange today," Meloney McLeod, 39, told the Sun Sentinel.

The employes, who worked in different departments at the firm, explained that they wear orange on pay-day Fridays so that they look like a group when they go out for drinks after work. They'd done it for several months before they were called into a conference room last Friday.

That's when executives told them that they thought the color and the show of unity had to do with a protest, litigation paralegal Lou Erik Ambert, 31, said. Employees explained the happy hour-pay day connection, but management decided to fire them anyway.

"There is no office policy against wearing orange shirts. We had no warning. We got no severance, no package, no nothing," said Ambert. "I feel so violated."

Janice Doble, 50, who supervised the people who scanned, copied, and mailed out documents, said she wore orange because she was looking forward to happy hour. Also? It's her favorite color. "My patio is orange," said Doble. "My lipstick was orange today."

A spokeswoman for the firm told the Sun Sentinel that the company had "no comment at this time."

Since Florida is an "at-will" state where employers can fire workers for almost any reason, the 14 who lost their jobs are out of legal luck. But their loyal former coworkers could still have the last word: According to ABC News, an organized protest about the working conditions at the firm would be protected under federal law, whether they wear orange or not.

Copyright © 2012 Yahoo Inc.




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