Mdthbs

I promise this isn't click bait, but no I'm not a satanist. I recently bought a phone case with the anti-possession star from the TV show Supernatural printed on it. It's a personal phone, but it's on my desk all day so I can see if I get a notification. Sometimes I chat with friends, but I also get work calls/texts on it too.

A co-worker of mine who I don't know too well walked past yesterday and apparently saw it. Today I heard her speaking to another colleague that I don't know too well saying she reported it to HR and I could tell she was 100% serious. The other colleague acted like she didn't care and just wanted to end the conversation. However, the woman that reported me specifically said that I think he might be into "satan worship", that's happening a lot more recently.

Seriously? I was shocked. A random meeting popped up on my calendar today. All it says is HR Meeting, with two people from HR included on it. Can I be fired for this?

Update:

So I was told by HR that my phone case is completely unacceptable, even though I don't have a customer facing position (I'm a software engineer). They also told me that this is a Christian company and Satanism isn't protected by religious discrimination laws because they're "evil".

This was a Twilight Zone experience. It was surreal. They escorted me out of the building and I'm now jobless. There was literally no indication that this was a "Christian company". They're not overt about it at all and I've worked here for over a year. I plan to talk to a lawyer.

It would be illegal to fire (or otherwise discriminate against) you for supposed Satanic worship or displaying other religious iconography. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would protect you against unfair treatment due to perceived religious beliefs.

Religious Discrimination & Work Situations

The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.

Religious Discrimination & Harassment

It is illegal to harass a person because of his or her religion.

"Reporting" you to HR for a religious practice would count as harassment under this definition.

Do keep in mind that Satanism is rather controversial in many parts of the US, so displaying occult symbols could make co-workers uncomfortable, legality aside. If the employer or HR has religious biases, they could potentially fabricate some other reason for termination.

I expect this will probably get cleared up once you explain the misunderstanding at HR - however if they don't believe you then they can't fire you for it (religion is a protected characteristic in the US) so they can't fire you for being a "satan worshipper", of course ironically they can fire you for being a Supernatural fan (assuming you are in an at-will state that is).

There's no cast-iron guarantees here unfortunately - I've heard some pretty wacky reasons for people getting fired over the years but on the balance of probabilities, and assuming your HR dept is entirely staffed by hysterical idjits I think you'll be fine.

I dare you to you to end the HR meeting with We've got work to do! (although I advise against shouting "Hey Assbutt!" at the co-worker who reported you, that might get you in trouble)

PS: Don't think I didn't notice the reference in the username btw.

You have been discriminated against on religious grounds.

Of course you are not a Satanist. However, you are a practicing and devout member of a religion whose tenets include the possibility of demonic possession. You have been taught by your church to fear demonic possession.

The symbol that you carry is not a Satanic symbol; if anything it is an anti-Satanic symbol. It is in fact a well-known device for warding off and preventing demonic possession.

You carry this symbol as part of expressing your religious identity. To be forbidden to display this symbol is a clear infringement of your civil rights. To be fired for displaying a symbolic evidence of your religious preference is a clear violation of black-letter law that Americans currently take very very seriously.

Even if you had not been fired, depriving you of the opportunity to wear this symbol would have placed your soul in mortal danger.

Etc. etc. There's more than enough here for an employment compliance law specialist to work with.

Some might say it would have been better to avoid this adversarial situation in the first place, but how were you to know that the symbol would be so misinterpreted by certain ignorant heathens? It was your employer who assumed the adversarial position, not you. You weren't even given a chance to explain.