Apparently, these highly paid employees are not union employees, like
high school teachers. I remember seeing a John Stossel report on
education in which he showed viewers the process for dismissing a
teacher. It was a flowchart as complex as any I've seen for complex
computer programs and detailed umpteen different steps that had to be
taken before an employee could be canned. The process took YEARS to
complete and, in the meantime, teachers who had caused major issues got
assigned to "rubber rooms", of which there were several BUILDINGS full,
where they essentially just sat around and read the newspaper at full
pay. Somehow, the union had succeeded in inflicting these preposterous
rules on schools, making teachers virtually impossible to fire, not
matter what they had done.
The downside of making the big bucks, as these TV personalities do, is
that apparently there is little if any process at all: someone makes an
accusation and you're gone pretty much instantly. Did Lauer even get a
chance to tell his side of the story? Was there ANY kind of
investigation into the accusations against him? Or was the accuser's
word just accepted without any evidence whatever?
We had an incident here a few years back where some female high school
seniors accused a male teacher of sexual impropriety. I don't remember
the details but I *think* the accusation was that he had propositioned s
the girls via email. The girls brought the accusation to the principal
who called the police. The teacher was suspended and had serious
criminal charges facing him. He swore he'd done absolutely nothing to
anyone. But these were the days when "women would never lie about such a
thing" was the prevailing "wisdom". Everyone turned against him and
refused to believe him, even his wife. He sunk into depression and
despair and finally killed himself because no one would believe him.
Only after his death was reported did the girls come forward and admit
they'd made the whole thing up! I never heard if the girls received any
punishment at all but the teacher received the Ultimate Punishment
despite having done nothing at all.
I sure hope Lauer isn't as innocent as this teacher was!
--
Rhino