Home Depot thought it could get away with firing a Black employee when he stood up to a racist customer by re-hiring him after the social media backlash. Maurice Rucker, 60, was fired from the company after standing up to a racist Donald Trump supporter at a Home Depot in Albany, New York, earlier this month. The company offered him his job back, but Rucker basically said, “Hell no!”
In case you missed it, Rucker, who worked at the company for ten years, was working in the store’s garden center, when he asked a white customer to keep his dog on a leash while in the store on July 12. According to Rucker, the white man reacted by telling him, “You’re from the ghetto. What do you know?”
He also allegedly said Trump was the only reason that Rucker had a job because President Barack Obama didn’t know what he was doing. He also claimed our former president was a Muslim.
“You’re lucky I’m at work, because if I wasn’t you wouldn’t be talking to me like this,” Rocker responded by saying before asking the customer to leave the store. Rocker was fired five days later.
Home Depot released the following statement, attempting to defend themselves:
“The problem here is that he had several opportunities to disengage and contact management to deal with the customer. We’re appalled by this customer’s behavior, but we also must require associates to follow proper protocol to defuse a situation for the sake of their safety and the safety of other associates and customers.”
Then, magically, after the company was destroyed on social media and there were threats of a boycott, Home Depot took “another look at this situation” and told the Huffington Post Rucker could have his job back.
Rucker gave a big hell no and explained that he was treated terribly at Home Depot.
“I went to work every day thinking I could be fired. Every task I did, I wondered if I could get fired for this,” he told The Washington Post. “There was a passive bias toward me at that particular store. . . . The fact they can fire me after 10 years for reacting to someone who is racist is insane. I felt like there wasn’t a whole lot of love for me there.”
Rucker has been driving for Lyft. A GoFundMe account for him has raised more than $3,000 in the past three days. However, Rucker told the Post he was looking into legal options, which hopefully translate into a hefty settlement.
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Home Depot Employee Fired And Rehired For Standing Up To A Racist Says He’s Good was originally published on newsone.com
