DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT - TV) – The Confederate Battle Flag may have cost two men in Alabama their jobs.
According to WHNT, the men claim they were fired from Turner Industries this week for refusing to remove the flag from their vehicles.
Phillip Sims tells WHNT he doesn’t normally drive to work with the Confederate Battle Flag on his truck, but claims he was running late Monday and didn't have time to remove it.
He said his manager said, “Hey, we like your work here and we like you, but your flag, it’s gonna have to go. He said I hate to be the one to tell you that but if you don’t I’m gonna have to fire you.”
Sims claims the company called him three times since Monday offering to rehire him if he’d take the flag off his truck. He told WHNT he stands by his actions.
“It’s a statement of our heritage and it’s just my right to have it, and I don’t think that I should just give it up because somebody told me I had to,” says Sims.
He has contacted the ACLU in hopes it may take interest in his case. The other employee allegedly fired for the same reason asked WHNT not to be identified.
Officials with Turner Industries declined to make any comment, according to WHNT. They have referred all questions to their corporate attorney.
