The Des Moines Register reports a judge has sided with a Fort Madison, Iowa, man who was fired for posting on an office bulletin board a Dilbert comic strip that poked fun at managers.
David Steward, a seven-year employee of Catfish Bend Casinos in Burlington, had posted the strip in late October after the company announced it would close and lay off 170 workers. The comic, shown above, referred to managers as “drunken lemurs.”
Soon after the strip appeared, casino management reviewed surveillance tapes, determined Steward had posted the strip, then fired him.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the casino then opposed his unemployment benefits. At a recent claims hearing, the casino’s human resources director testified that management found the comic “very offensive,” and considered Steward’s behavior “misconduct.”
Luckily, Administrative Law Judge Lynette Donner didn’t buy that, ruling Steward’s actions constituted “a good-faith error in judgment.”
Dilbert creator Scott Adams told the Register that this may be the first confirmed instance of someone being fired for posting one of the strips in the workplace.
Related: Des Moines Register editorial
