The owner of a masonry business in Colorado is speaking out about his decision to fire more than 30 employees who did not show up for work in support of last week’s “Day Without Immigrants” protest.
Jim Serowski, the owner of JVS Masonry, told CNN in an interview on Sunday he did nothing wrong and said he warned his employees about the consequences of joining in the protest movement before they actually took the day off.
Serowski said he told his employees, “If you’re going to stand up for what you believe in you have to be willing to pay the price.”
On Saturday, Serowski also spoke to his local CBS News affiliate in Denver after one employee made an allegation that his termination felt like racism. Serowski denied the decision to terminate the workers was in any way racially motivated and said he made the decision because the employees violated the company’s policy about not showing up to work. He said the decision put his company in a real bind because he had to shutdown two job sites on Thursday due to the protest and he is now risks missing an important construction deadline.
“They were told, if you no-call-no-show, you don’t have a job,” Serowski told the news station. “It’s that simple.”
However, Serowski said that he would consider re-hiring many of the workers again after the weekend. All they would need to do is come see him on Monday morning.
[image via screengrab]
