E-Malt.com News article: USA: A Budweiser distributor says he was fired for drinking a Coors beer in public

Ross Hopkins, 41, a former supervisor at a Budweiser distributorship, still likes to drink Bud, even though he says a brief tryst with a Coors beer cost him his job at a Budweiser distributor, according to Associated Press. He is suing American Eagle Distributing Co., saying the company wrongly fired him for drinking Coors in a bar two years ago. Hopkins said American Eagle Distributing Co. has no right to tell him what kind of beer to drink when he is off-duty.

Hopkins said he was fired in May 2003 after the son-in-law of the distributorship owner saw him drinking Coors in a Greeley bar. Jeff Bedingfield, an attorney for American Eagle, declined to discuss the specifics of the lawsuit but said "there are two sides to every story."

In its court response, American Eagle said Hopkins was fired "for conduct that relates to a bona fide occupational requirement that is reasonably and rationally related to the employment activities and responsibilities of a particular employee."

The court filing does not directly challenge Hopkins' claim that he was fired, at least in part, for drinking Coors in public.


18 May, 2005