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by apostate
Wed Jun 06, 2018 9:56 pm
Forum: General Texas CHL Discussion
Topic: 30.06/7 signs and Parking Lots
Replies: 30
Views: 8196

Re: 30.06/7 signs and Parking Lots

Soccerdad1995 wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 1:59 pm
oljames3 wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:53 am
Soccerdad1995 wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:35 am
oohrah wrote: Sat Jun 02, 2018 11:00 am As long as your firearm remains locked/concealed in your car, you are not violating 30.06/7. There is even a TX parking lot law which protects you.

That being said, do not allow your anti-gun employer to know you are keeping a firearm in your vehicle, or they can terminate you without cause or reason if they desire.

IANAL
Take a look at your employee handbook. If there is a policy stating that firearm possession may result in discipline "up to and including termination" print that out NOW and keep it at home just in case you are terminated "for no reason" shortly after they discover a gun in your car. Copies of your performance evals (assuming they are positive) would also help your case, of course. It is illegal for them to fire you because you have a gun in your car, but never assume that they (or anyone else) will tell the truth when push comes to shove.
HR is not likely to include any data or take an action that would be so clearly counterproductive as saying one was fired for having a firearm in their vehicle in the employer's parking lot. They can very easily come up with an innocuous reason, after all. My employer does not know what, how, or if I carry and I don't worry about it.
My employee handbook includes that exact phrase. And I doubt that the HR folks at my company even know that firing someone for this reason is against the law in Texas. This is at a company with over 6,000 employees.

While it would be nice to have them state the reason in writing, most employers will not give any official reason for a termination. That is unless they want to fight you on unemployment compensation or otherwise want to show that the termination was "for cause". I assumed that was the case when I said that you should have a copy of any references that are in your employee handbook, and should also have a copy of your positive performance evaluations. The employer will need to refute your allegations in court, and they are going to have a tough time saying that you were a terrible employee if you have a stack of very positive evals.

I agree with you about not disclosing the fact that you carry if you want to keep your job.
More and more, it seems large companies won't give any reason publicly, unless it's part of a re-org or RIF. They also tend not to protest unemployment claims, as it's cheaper in the long run to pay slightly higher UI rates than deal with wrongful termination drama.

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