MoSpur
01-17-2008, 12:08 PM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA011608.taco.kens.2d618b98.html
Lots of people have been fired for missing work, showing up late or mouthing off to the boss. But can a worker be fired for eating a taco?
It seems like a harmless pastime, especially in a city as Tex-Mex as San Antonio, but when a municipal workers' union sent KENS 5 a flier claiming a city worker had been fired for eating a taco, it got the station's interest.
However, it seems stories, like tortillas, have two sides.
Jack Morales, a maintenance manager at San Antonio's Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, says he was fired for eating a taco.
He says he was waiting for a briefing at the start of his shift one day. "Sitting there, waiting, looking at my paperwork. I was eating a half-eaten taco," Morales said.
He says a city supervisor came into the room and started arguing with another manager. Suddenly, thanks to the taco, Morales' job was on the menu.
"She went downstairs and told her supervisor that, well, 'Jack was there eating a taco,' and from that, it just snowballed into my termination and all that," Morales said.
The city, however, takes a different bite at the story. An assistant city attorney told KENS 5 that Morales, an 11-year employee, had several other employment incidents that got him into trouble before the firing, including insubordination, willful disregard of orders and loitering while on duty.
Thursday morning, the city's Civil Service Commission will make a final decision on Morales' firing, deciding whether the city's beef over the taco is a real one.
Lots of people have been fired for missing work, showing up late or mouthing off to the boss. But can a worker be fired for eating a taco?
It seems like a harmless pastime, especially in a city as Tex-Mex as San Antonio, but when a municipal workers' union sent KENS 5 a flier claiming a city worker had been fired for eating a taco, it got the station's interest.
However, it seems stories, like tortillas, have two sides.
Jack Morales, a maintenance manager at San Antonio's Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, says he was fired for eating a taco.
He says he was waiting for a briefing at the start of his shift one day. "Sitting there, waiting, looking at my paperwork. I was eating a half-eaten taco," Morales said.
He says a city supervisor came into the room and started arguing with another manager. Suddenly, thanks to the taco, Morales' job was on the menu.
"She went downstairs and told her supervisor that, well, 'Jack was there eating a taco,' and from that, it just snowballed into my termination and all that," Morales said.
The city, however, takes a different bite at the story. An assistant city attorney told KENS 5 that Morales, an 11-year employee, had several other employment incidents that got him into trouble before the firing, including insubordination, willful disregard of orders and loitering while on duty.
Thursday morning, the city's Civil Service Commission will make a final decision on Morales' firing, deciding whether the city's beef over the taco is a real one.