CRANFORD, NJ – When pro-life activist Joe Pavone reported to work on 12/29/03, he expected a typical day in a corporate accountants life. The processing and reporting of financial information can be a repetitive and mundane task. What he got instead was a pink slip.
| Assigned to the commercial loan giant “CIT Group” in Livingston, NJ by his employment agency, Pavone was told nothing by this corporation about its Internet usage policy. In using his managers logon the previous week-he noted that the bookmarked Internet sites included websites that were clearly of a non-business nature. On his lunch hour, Pavone visited several pro-life websites like lektrik.com, covenantnews.com, and mttu.com. |
After reporting to work on 12/29/03, Pavone was called by his employment agency and told that the CIT Group Inc did not need his services anymore and to leave the building. Only after he left was he phoned again by his agency and told the reason behind his termination.
Shruti Choksi, a manager at CIT Group, had noted that Pavone had visited the aforementioned pro-life sites and complained to her supervisor, Robert Oberlander. Oberlander then phoned Pavone’s agency and told them that he and Choksi were“offended” that Pavone had visited pro-life sites, and they would no longer need his services. Pavone was told by his agency not to visit pro-life websites ever again and not to even discuss abortion, or any of his beliefs again when on assignment.
Determined to respond to this unjust treatment, Pavone fired off the protest letter that is reproduced below. He believes it to be an example of what all pro-lifers should do in the face of the unjust, pro-abortion bias oftentimes exhibited in corporate America. That is—continue to be a testimony everywhere for the Lord Jesus Christ and the unborn. Pavone stated to MTTU News, “The Lord Jesus Christ gave His all for us. We should not fear any persecution in defending the babies that He created and our God-given rights to defend them.”
Memorandum
To: Albert Gamper Jr., CEO of CIT
Joseph Leone, CFO of CIT
Human Resources Department, CIT
CC: Robert Oberlander, CIT
Shruti Choksi, CIT
Mttu.com, Lektrik.com, Covenantnews.com, Foxnews.com
From: Joseph Pavone
Date: 1/11/2004
Re: Unfair and Discriminatory Treatment of Contract Employee
On 12/22/03 I reported to the CIT Capital Equipment Finance accounting group on a contract job assignment from my agency. This group is headed by Robert Oberlander (Supervisor) and Shruti Choksi (Manager).
I worked the next day-12/23/03- also; however when I reported for work on 12/29/03 I was informed that my services were no longer needed. The reason?
I was told by my agency that Oberlander and Choksi were offended by my having accessed “anti-abortion” websites the previous week on my computer.
It is I who am offended now – very offended. I find the bigotry displayed by Robert Oberlander and Shruti Choksi towards the pro-life position to be discriminatory and offensive.
At no time was I ever told of CIT’s policy on Internet usage- or what constitutes a violation of that policy.
While using the logon of Shruti Choksi on 12/23/03 I noted she herself had several websites bookmarked that were totally of a non-business nature. One of the websites in fact dealt with the health and well-being of infants. I share Shruti’s interest in the health of infants—both born and unborn. Why is it permissible for Shruti Choksi to have personal Internet usage but not myself? Is there a double-standard here? Does CIT have one policy for its own employees and another for its contract employees?
What this behavior reeks of is hypocrisy, and a double standard at best—or at worst it may a covert and pro-abortion bias on the part of Oberlander and Choksi. I ask you to investigate my treatment to determine whether it meets your standards of fairness and impartiality for all CIT employees. Fortunately for me, I can thank God that I have moved on to another agency immediately and am working. In closing, however, I would like to send a message to CIT, Robert Oberlander, and Shruti Choksi in particular:
If you think that you can intimidate those people who would defend the unborn into silence-you are deluded. I do not fear the repercussions of protesting the abortion holocaust in the least—and the lives of those unborn children are worth as much in the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ every bit as much as the baby that Shruti Choksi recently gave birth to. I will not be silenced, I will not retreat, and I will take every opportunity that God gives me to save the lives of the unborn, who are being killed at the rate of over 3,000 babies per day. The humanity of the unborn child is not negotiable and no Mother has a right to kill her child. These infants in their mother’s wombs have been created by the One True God and they have a RIGHT TO LIFE. I am afraid of no corporation or employment agency—but I can share with you on what true fear should be:
“And I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear Him.”
Luke 12:4,5
The LORD Jesus Christ