Fired for Being a Porn Star

Posted on | January 17, 2006

What is it with companies delving into the private lives of their employees? One of the more famous cases of an individual being fired for conduct out side of work was Ellen Simonetti who is known in the blogging world as the Queen of the Sky. Simonetti was suspended by Delta and eventually fired after photographs of her in uniform. Simonetti filed a sexual discrimination lawsuit against Delta Airlines for wrongful termination.

One of the more recent victims is porn star Pete Ross who was also a flight attendant who decided to pick up a second job as an adult film star. One of Ross’ coworkers found out about this second job and decided to tattle on him to the company. The result was, and given the condition of the airlines these days this is utterly insane, a full-blown investigation into Ross’ private life involving private investigators complete with photo and video surveillance costing thousands of dollars. Once the airline had what they wanted, they dragged Ross into a meeting where a union rep unsuccessfully tried to argue for Ross’ job. It was the airline industry’s recession after 9/11 that drove Ross to the adult entertainment industry to begin with.

This sort of stuff really gets to me because it totally goes against some of the stuff upon which this nation was founded. It is a world of difference between what Ross did as an adult film star and what he did as a flight attendant. The same for Simonetti given the photos of her were casual ones. If she was doing a strip show in uniform Delta may have had more cause for concern. If their outside activities were impeding their work, their respective airlines might also have justification. But flat out firing either of them because of what they do outside of work is bullshit. This whole thing about having to "represent the company" around the clock is bullshit. If an employer wants me to represent them around the clock, they are going to have to pay me around the clock.

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