General Question

flo's avatar

Do bus drivers for example, have the right to not drive a bus with anti abortion or pro abortion or whatever other ads?

Asked by flo (13313points) April 18th, 2017

I don’t have the article right now, but I think there is an actual case where the driver wanted to be paid for not working anyway.

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12 Answers

jca's avatar

I’d say a lot of it has to do with whether or not the bus driver is a member of a union.

Is there a link, @flo, or is this hypothetical?

elbanditoroso's avatar

Quick answer: No.

kritiper's avatar

Yes. It doesn’t mean they’ll not be looking for work elsewhere.

zenvelo's avatar

No, they don’t get to choose what advertising is on whichever bus they drive.

Pandora's avatar

I agree with @zenvelo. No would be my answer. It’s not their business to run and those adds help pay their paycheck. If they don’t like it then they can get another job. If however the ads bring unwarranted behavior from the public, and the bus driver feels they may be in danger because of it, then they would have a right not to drive the bus with the danger magnet because it is creating a unsafe work environment.

jca's avatar

Do they have the ”right” not to drive the bus? Yes, nobody is holding a gun to their head. That doesn’t mean they won’t be disciplined (including termination).

flo's avatar

Okay I got an article:
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2017/04/11/peterborough-transit-driver-sent-home-after-regusing-to-drive-city-bus-with-pro-life-ads-on-it

So, if they got fired and if they fought it, (in court or Human Rights Comission) who would the court side with?

jca's avatar

Quoted from the article:

“No one was sent home – she chose not to do the overtime work,” he said. “Now she’s decided she should get paid (for work not done).”

But Tyler Burns, the president of the union, doesn’t see it that way.

He said the driver in question typically works a split shift – she works in the morning, goes home in the afternoon and then works again every evening.

A day in advance, she accepted an overtime shift for the afternoon of April 4. But when she saw which bus she’d be driving, she asked for another bus.

Burns thinks that could easily have been arranged – drivers are shuffled from one bus to the other all the time.

But the driver – who has requested anonymity – was told she had no choice but to drive the bus with the pro-life ad.

“When she refused, they took away the overtime,” Burns said. “She was more than willing to do the work – she just didn’t feel comfortable driving that bus.”

flo's avatar

Thanks all. But if it went to court, who would win in the employer or the employee?

jca's avatar

Win what, @flo? If the employee is fired? If the employee was sent home and didn’t work the overtime? The employee was sent home and didn’t work the overtime, so they’re not getting paid the overtime, according to the article. So is the employee then supposed to get paid overtime even though they didn’t work it?

flo's avatar

@jca So, yes, say if the employee got fired and she said that the reason she got fired was that she tried to get for a shift she didn’t work?

Added: If she says she got fired fore trying to get paid the overtaime rate.

jca's avatar

@flo: What you wrote makes no sense.

If she didn’t work, she won’t get paid. If she works, she gets paid.

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