Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone been "harrased" or disciplined for having snakes or reptiles as pets, or having even their pictures on their desk or Computer as a Screensaver?

I only ask because at my last employer I was ordered to take down anything snake related at MY desk because there was 1 person that is afraid of snakes. I completely agreed and took down everything, 2 weeks later I was let go, for reasons they were caught lying about.
I was talking about this with my Father who dislikes snakes as well and he thinks it is highly possible that a lot of employers do not like snakes/reptiles and suggested that I do not bring up my hobby for fear of discrimination. The more I think about this stuff, I lean more towards the idea of making my hobby my own business. That way I can't harass myself! Or can I
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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In Loving Memory of the best Brother God gave me
Sgt. Arnold DuPlantier II
(Army National Guard, Charlie Rock Co.)
06/01/1979-06/22/2005
Support Our Troops

Tho it's never happened to me - your employer does have every right to dicate what is or is not in your work area - some don't allow family photos let alone pet photos. If you have a hobby or such that is out of the ordinary you sometimes need to use discresion. If there was an employee that had a snake phobia - then yes - the photo may be considered a workplace disruption. In the best of scenarios that person should have explained thier problem and asked you if you could not display the snake so prominantly and you would know to be sensitive to the issue. To fire you over it (especialy if you complied) is not right.
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Tosha

"One of these days i am going to wake up..look around...and realize my place looks more like "Ace Venturas"s than my own." Coldthumb

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope John Paul "JP"
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.1 lizard rescued from vicious feline

have to sit at my desk to see!! Believe me I complied, I loved that job! Plus the Computer screensaver/slideshow was not just snakes I had other Pics. up as well.
Ah, I took it with a grain of salt. It just gives me more time with my cold-blooded friends!
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In Loving Memory of the best Brother God gave me
Sgt. Arnold DuPlantier II
(Army National Guard, Charlie Rock Co.)
06/01/1979-06/22/2005
Support Our Troops

Hmm, let me see. I've got snakes on my computer desktop, I have a few pics of snakes hanging in my cube, I've got plastic and rubber snakes sitting on top of my monitors, I frequently wear T-Shirts that have snakes or other reptiles on them and I have a 10 gallon aquarium with a breeding pair of leopard geckos in it sitting on my desk. Nobody says a word except to ask me to let them know when I'll be feeding the lizards next because they want to watch. (I do make sure to feed 3/4 grown crickets so the chirping doesn't bother anyone) Everyone at work is well aware of my obsession and they accept it just fine. If my employer asked me to remove my stuff, of course I'd do it right away because, after all it's their business and they own the facilities. But I think that most employers understand that letting an employee customize their cube to make it feel more homey makes the employee happier. And a happy employee is a more productive employee.

HOWEVER... if you suspect that you may have been fired because of your hobby, even though you complied with your employers requests, it sounds to me like it could be discrimination. If you feel strongly about it, it might not be a bad idea to talk to a lawyer about it. An initial consultation usually doesn't cost that much and it could give you some peace of mind.

Mark

>>Has anyone been "harrased" or disciplined for having snakes or reptiles as pets, or having even their pictures on their desk or Computer as a Screensaver?
>>
>> I only ask because at my last employer I was ordered to take down anything snake related at MY desk because there was 1 person that is afraid of snakes. I completely agreed and took down everything, 2 weeks later I was let go, for reasons they were caught lying about.
>> I was talking about this with my Father who dislikes snakes as well and he thinks it is highly possible that a lot of employers do not like snakes/reptiles and suggested that I do not bring up my hobby for fear of discrimination. The more I think about this stuff, I lean more towards the idea of making my hobby my own business. That way I can't harass myself! Or can I
>> Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>>
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>>
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>>-----
>>In Loving Memory of the best Brother God gave me
>> Sgt. Arnold DuPlantier II
>> (Army National Guard, Charlie Rock Co.)
>> 06/01/1979-06/22/2005
>> Support Our Troops

I recently applied and interviwed with a "highly prestigious" Co. (Ha!) they have a highly scrutinizing hiring process, and I made it through all the testing to the interview, and they promised a answer by 08/05, by phone! I ahve yet to hear from them. Oh well. Some things aren't meant to happen. After visiting my dad he said once again "I told you not to talk about your snakes." I just laughed
This just means I have to re-adjust my snake spending budget for ANAHIEM!!!!!!!
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In Loving Memory of the best Brother God gave me
Sgt. Arnold DuPlantier II
(Army National Guard, Charlie Rock Co.)
06/01/1979-06/22/2005
Support Our Troops

Hmmm, talking to a laywer will get you nothing but wasting your time. I too work in an office where someone has a huge problem with snakes. She is a very nice person, but even a picture will seen her screaming. I have found that unless you know everyone you work with very well, its best just to keep it to your self. Luckly for me I learned my lesson early in life... I was 16 and a girl had given me her phone number... very cute, I was excited to say the least... I called he and we got to talking and I brought up the fact that I had a snake and some lizards, and how I breed the lizards... she asked me if I would not call her again, and not to talk about ever calling her. Just like a light switch. The fact is, some people just really dont like reptiles. I have run into several people like that.

I talked to the local Law/Discrimination people and it's a waste of time even though I have a witness to the little fibs they told. Oh well, one more reason to own my own business

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In Loving Memory of the best Brother God gave me
Sgt. Arnold DuPlantier II
(Army National Guard, Charlie Rock Co.)
06/01/1979-06/22/2005
Support Our Troops

Well..this is my first post ever.......but I just had to chime in on this!!!...............I sort of had the oppisite happen to me......being the ONLY female in my unit at work......I walked in one morning about 2 weeks ago to find a rubber snake lying on my computer keyboard...............I guess it was supposed to scare me.....after I showed all the guys who were in the office pics of my Burmese and asked who did I need to return the joke/favor to they sort of realized that their joke backfired!!! Evidentally they are all a bunch of wimps!!......I still keep telling them that I am going to put one in each of their cars!!

LOLOL, I think I like you!!

Quig

Now thats funny!...all you need to do now is find a nice lifesize stuff animal snake.

That got me thinking..
There was one time iv'e ever actually been tagged by a bp(Stupid Feeding Error).She just tagged and released...
When it happened,my buddy(who was standing near the door for some reason )turned to run and in doing so SMACKED his head/face on the door jam...oddly enough,he hasn't been around lately...hrmm.

You just never know what kind of fears were instilled upon some people when they were young...
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

Having to take down photos of snakes from you cubicle is completely within the rights of the employer. Though if other employees have pics of family and pets, it could be seen as a form of discrimination.

Firing you because you keep reptiles is illegal, or at least it is in Canada. best place to go will be your union rep (if it's a unionized position) or Ministry of Employment (better buisness bureau? can't remember exactly what it is called here, much less in the States LOL). What you do in y our own time is none of your employers buinsess, nor are your hobbies, providing none are against the law.

The problem is, proving you were fired because you had reptiles. You pretty much have to have witnesses willing to go to court for you to get your job back. Then again, would you feel comfortable working at that job afterwards?

There really is a narrow scope that employers can use to fire people. The employee handbook which lays out all the regulations that you receive when hired or shortly thereafter, is what they expect you, as an employee to follow, including performance levels. Having pet reptiles certainly isn't a fireable offense. Maybe bringing those reptiles to work and scaring people with them, is deffinitely a fireable offense.
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PHLdyPayne

Let me first say I'm probably VERY lucky in my work situation. I'm a dispatcher in Oklahoma City for the cable company.

I have snakes here almost weekly, feeders (rats and rabbits) here weekly, recive snakes here via-UPS, DHL, or FedEx. The only person that ever gives me a hard time is our plant manager (2nd from the top head hauncho) but I belive he understands I'm not some tool that keeps snakes. I don't belive there is a day that goes by that I don't talk to someone about snakes. I have the obligatory Randy May wall paper on my work comp. I rescued a texas ratsnake from our warehouse personell. When the cable technicians are doing installations and the find a reptile they call me to see what it is and if I want it. But its taken 5 years for these people to realize I'm not talking out of my butt and that I actually know what I'm talking about.

There are a couple other people that don't care for them being there but I don't force them to be around them, I kindof have my own little room where me and all my stuff is. The only person that really matters if they don't like them is the plant manager because he the one that can actually say "I don't like that, stop bringing them here"

I'm just glad he wasn't here the day I brought Bitey (the moid cobra) to work with me

I have not had anyone telling me to take down the pictures etc that I have around my desk but I have one of my coworkers ask if they can search my cooler to make sure that I didn't bring it with me to work. (I use the same one to take the snake to the vet/petstore etc). They always do it in jest but you can feel a hint of "a am scared that you are going to go postal and have your snake eat me!" LOL. I did actually us that fear in a meeting. By boss and I took turns tapping the cooler from behind to make it rock a little. It proved to be a great way to shorten a meeting you don't want to be in!
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-1-0 Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

I may just be thinking backwards here but would it make more sense for someone that is afraid of snake to NOT fire or intimidate the snake owner? I would be afraid that I might find a 25ft retic in my car if I ticked the owner off! You want a raise? sure no problem... Corner Office? consider it done... Next 3 months off for paid, but not documented vacation? I'll personally drop off your paychecks while you are out... ... ...
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-1-0 Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

I just simply had photographs up. I dont feel I was fired for having snakes. Thats a different off topic story. I just have noticed recently that a job I applied for after passing several tests to even get to the interview, I did not get, nor have I even received a letter or phone call of decline, which they promised to do either way (got the job or not)
I appreciate all the pertinent responses to my questions, believe me I know that a work place has rules regarding certain things, I follow those rules. Who else is going to sign my paycheck??
I don't think I am "holier than thou" and deserve and expect special treatment and I would never disregard rules set down by my boss. I wasn't raised that way. Im about to be 30, im not that childish So thanks again for the comments. I think I will unfortunately NOT bring up my love and hobby to prospective employers. I have had enough grief losing my brother. Your big Sis. misses you!

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In Loving Memory of the best Brother God gave me
Sgt. Arnold DuPlantier II
(Army National Guard, Charlie Rock Co.)
06/01/1979-06/22/2005
Support Our Troops