If the teacher were fired for taking a sick day to care for a seriously sick friend (or depending on the contract possibly even a sick child or spouse!), it would morally be less objectionable but would from a contract perspective be the same. The issue is what the “real” sick day policy is — if it’s okay for other teachers to use them for personal purposes, then it’s okay for this teacher (even though I can’t stand the Howard Stern show, think she was stupid and wrong, etc.).

Is it ok for a teacher to perform in a pornographic film just because some parents or fellow teachers may watch porn at home?

Goodness, I hope so, and I find porn morally abhorent (but I find government interference with private business worse).

Now, a PRIVATE school should be able to release someone from employment as they see fit, and a school without some kind of union crap should also be able to do so, but if there are rules about this stuff (and there are), especially if the government is involved, then they should be evenly enforced without regard to what one does in one’s private life.

Explain how this is a double standard? There is a significant difference between watching and participating in something like this. If in fact a teacher at the school listened to Howard Stern around their students I would support sanctions of some type against them too, since I find the show inappropriate for kids.

Take our argument to the nth degree. Is it ok for a teacher to perform in a pornographic film just because some parents or fellow teachers may watch porn at home?

I hear the skit on the Howard Stern show and she did not do anything immoral or that should have caused her to get fired. I have definitely seen worse.

If that is why she was forced out (and she certainly was forced out), she should get her job back.

If, however, she was fired for taking a “sick day” to compete on the show, that is a separate issue.

Brad in Conecticut

Tracy, this is a perfect example of having double standards. It is ostensibly okay for anyone at the school to watch the show in question, but it is not okay for one of their staff to appear on the show.

Fair enough – she did lie about being sick. However, if her work contract didn’t allow her to take a day off for “personal reasons”, then what was she supposed to do? If she had told

How about this solution… The woman drops the case against the school, hits the Howard Stern Show up for advertising collateral, and then she moves somewhere where people don’t live in caves.

Factor in the almost immediate loss of credibility that she will suffer with parents and students because of this appearance an I can readily support her termination.