Fidelity and Fantasy Football - Here's 10 More Stupid Reasons to Fire Employees

In case you haven't heard, Cameron Pettigrew, who worked as a client relations manager at Fidelity Investments in Texas, and three other employees were fired after supervisors found out they were sending instant messages about a fantasy football league that they ran.

His offense? As Fidelity put it: "Violation of Company Gambling Policy Involving Fantasy Football."

This kid, who was an exemplary two year employee, is now without a job. Pettigrew said he never received a single verbal or written warning before his dismissal. "I loved my job, my coworkers, and frankly, I loved Fidelity. I practically begged to have my job back," Pettigrew said . "I spent weeks trying to appeal my termination ... I even said I would take a demotion if they accepted me back."

Pettigrew was commissioner of a $20 entry fee league with nine other employees. According to Pettigrew, those other nine league members -- which included three team leaders and a manager -- were simply given warnings and got to keep their jobs. "They are all dear friends of mine and I would never want for them to be fired or additionally reprimanded," said Pettigrew, "but the way in which Fidelity applied our punishment was flawed and unequal."

According to Pettigrew, he was questioned by two company investigators for an hour and a half, where they wanted to know everything he knew about fantasy sports at the Westlake site. "They were insistent upon knowing about everyone involved, especially leadership, and whether those persons even mentioned a league," said Pattigrew. "I kept thinking, 'All of this over a $20 fantasy football league?' "

Fidelity spokesman Vin Loporchio says the company does not comment on individual employees out of respect to their privacy, but he did say that Fidelity has "clear policies that relate to gambling." Mr. Loporchio would not elaborate on whether Fidelity views fantasy sports as gambling, but said that Fidelity is not "making any judgments on fantasy leagues," and stressed that Fidelity's main concern is that it stays out of the workplace.

By the way, laws have been passed which define the terms "bet" and "wager," and fantasy participation has been excluded. Here's a link to a million-word legal definition. Pettigrew may have used his IM account for a non-worked related activity, but he wasn't gambling.

Why the harsh action from Fidelity? Perhaps they were concerned about lost productivity. Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas, estimates that workers who play fantasy football on the job cost American employers more than $32 billion annually in lost productivity, despite gains in workplace morale and camaraderie.

I don't buy it. If managers were to fire employees for every activity that was "non-productive", they would have to start with themselves. And by the time they were done, there wouldn't be anyone left to fire.

Is there anyone out there that agrees with Fidelity's decision? Well, if you do, then maybe you'd  agree with these 10 additional stupid reasons to fire employees:

1. Using email or the internet for personal use. You will have a lot of company for this one. More than a quarter of companies have fired employees for misusing e-mail and one-third have fired employees for misusing the Internet, according to a survey by the American Management Association. I'm sure many of these are justified - so in order to qualify for the "stupid reason" list, we'd need to include emails to Grandma and looking up a recipe for tomorrow’s dinner.

2. Using the phone for personal use. Same thing, right?

3. Using your own cell phone or PDA on company time. Heck, the old "lost productivity" justification, right? In fact, it's stealing from the company, isn't it?

4. Pooping on company time. According to a leading Human Resource Consulting company, workers who poop on company time cost American employers more than $32 billion annually in lost productivity. OK, I made that up - but read Laurie Ruettiman's hilarious post and comments on this topic at her Punk Rock HR blog.

5. Selling Girl Scout cookies at work. This would be a clear violation of the company non-solicitation policy.

6. Dressing up as Santa and handing out Christmas cookies at work. This one is from my own HR file... I actually had to a counsel a manager for doing this. That ended up being one of the reasons I decided I could no longer be an HR Manager.

7. All forms of gambling, including brackets, squares, last man standing, and baby pools.

8. Excessive time off for a sick child, or any other personal distractions.

9. Tattoos and nose rings.

10. Anything other than legitimate work performance issues. There are plenty of cowardly ways to avoid having to deal with real performance issues.

I'd really like to hear from my fellow HR and workplace bloggers, managers, and all other readers. Do you agree or disagree with the action Fidelity took?

12/21  - this post has been revised based on feedback from a reader. He makes a good point - there are always two sides to every story, and we are only hearing the employee's.