WEBCommentary Contributor

Author: Michael J. Gaynor
Date:  September 1, 2020

Topic category:  Labor/Employment News

Isn't Firing Someone for Stating that "All Lives Matter" Illegal Religious Discrimination?


Mr. Napier, you might want to get yourself an ALL LIVES MATTER...EVERY SINGLE ONE! cap (II suggest red, white and blue) and contact attorney Lynn Wood.

Should sportscaster Grant Napear be suing by the radio station that fired him for saying that all lives matter?

If any major religion does not profess that all human lives matter (at least from birth to death), I never noticed.

Napier also resigned as the Sacramento Kings TV play-by-play announcer after his tweet that said “All Lives Matter” during the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd protests provoked outrage in some places. He had dared to tweet “All Lives Matter…Every Single One!” on a Sunday of all days after former Sacramento Kings star DeMarcus Cousins had asked his view on the Black Lives Matter movement.

Sadly, people who feel entitled to police speech charge that “All Lives Matter” mocks the Black Lives Matter movement.

That movement began after the second inauguration of President Obama and is best known for attacking the nuclear family and charging that the United States is systemically racist.

Founding it was an unexpected way to celebrate the reelection of the first black President of the United States.

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission website states (www.eeoc.gov/religious-discrimination):

Religious Discrimination

Religious discrimination involves treating a person (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of his or her religious beliefs. The law protects not only people who belong to traditional, organized religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, but also others who have sincerely held religious, ethical or moral beliefs.

Religious discrimination can also involve treating someone differently because that person is married to (or associated with) an individual of a particular religion.

Religious Discrimination & Work

The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.

Religious Discrimination & Harassment

It is illegal to harass a person because of his or her religion.

Harassment can include, for example, offensive remarks about a person's religious beliefs or practices. Although the law doesn't prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that aren't very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted).

The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer.

Religious Discrimination and Segregation

Title VII also prohibits workplace or job segregation based on religion (including religious garb and grooming practices), such as assigning an employee to a non-customer contact position because of actual or feared customer preference.

Religious Discrimination & Reasonable Accommodation

The law requires an employer or other covered entity to reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices, unless doing so would cause more than a minimal burden on the operations of the employer's business. This means an employer may be required to make reasonable adjustments to the work environment that will allow an employee to practice his or her religion.Examples of some common religious accommodations include flexible scheduling, voluntary shift substitutions or swaps, job reassignments, and modifications to workplace policies or practices.

That radio station and the Sacramento Kings should be ashamed.

They are the ones who deserve to be blamed.

Mr. Napier, you might want to get yourself an ALL LIVES MATTER...EVERY SINGLE ONE! cap (I suggest red, white and blue) and contact attorney Lynn Wood.

He's not afraid to stand up for the rights of his clients against sinister forces and turns lemons into lemonade.

Michael J. Gaynor


Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.


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