Retailers deal with fallout over racist employee posts

The chilling 54-second cellphone video begins with a child-size pair of expensive sneakers being placed on the front seat of a car. The voice on the video said he put them in plain view to "set up a trap for these looters." The car door closes and the camera pans to a nearby home's upstairs window. "But little do they know that's my window right there into my room," the voice on the video says. "Sniper tower."

It had been five days since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody when this video surfaced. Protests — and some looting — had broken out in several U.S. cities, including Scottsdale, Ariz., where the video was shot.

As it continues, now from inside the upstairs bedroom, the man turns the camera on himself as he is holding an assault rifle and wearing an AutoNation Inc. polo shirt. "Fear nothing," he says.

The man, Raymond Trzaskos, was quickly identified on social media as an employee of AutoNation Subaru Scottsdale. People posted one-star Yelp reviews for the dealership and called for the company to fire Trzaskos. "Any updates?" one post said. "We won't let this go until we know it's taken care of," another warned.

On Twitter, where the video has been viewed more than 2.6 million times, AutoNation's social media team began damage control. It provided several statements saying the retailer would not tolerate racism of any kind and was working with local law enforcement on the situation.

The post, allegedly meant to be a joke, was neither funny nor acceptable, said Marc Cannon, AutoNation's chief customer experience officer. Trzaskos was fired. He later apologized.

"We will not put up with that," Cannon said.

Reining in inappropriate employee social media use has been a concern this month at large public retailers and small local groups alike, especially in the midst of a stress-inducing pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 Americans and resulted in record-high job losses.

For retailers managing fallout over racist or derogatory posts online, staying silent could mean lost sales and alienated customers.

Thom Fladung, managing partner for crisis communications company Hennes Communications in Cleveland, said he has never seen companies so doggedly pursued on social media for the online activity of employees.

While a rapid and professional response is vital for companies to remain in the public's good graces, it's often not enough to appease would-be customers, he said. Social media users expect swift repercussions for employees who post racist or inflammatory words and videos.

"You can't communicate your way out of a crisis. You have to act your way out and communicate those actions," Fladung said. "People ask, 'What are they going to do about this employee?' "

Firing a problematic employee isn't the only option for dealerships, but many take that route — particularly when evidence of discrimination is shared widely online.

Stephen Stern, an employment and commercial litigation attorney in Maryland, said most employment is at-will, meaning employers can terminate employees for any reason. Notable exceptions to at-will termination include anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation/whistleblower statutes, some common-law exceptions and contractual agreements such as collective bargaining.

Some states have implemented protections for off-duty conduct, but in cases where what employees do on their personal time impacts the company's business, Stern said it is understandable that those companies take action to protect the brand.

If an employee were to sue for wrongful termination after being fired for online misbehavior, their social media conduct is not above scrutiny.

"You still have to go through the processes to get [social media posts] admitted properly, but it is certainly evidence that can be — and has been — used in a variety of cases," he said.

Martin Automotive Group, one of the nation's largest black-owned franchised dealership groups, fired the general manager of its Martin Dodge-Jeep-Chrysler-Ram dealership in Bowling Green, Ky., in April 2019 when a video of the employee using derogatory and racist language was found online.

Chadwick Martin, president of Martin Automotive Group, said with several hundred employees it's difficult to unearth an employee's viewpoints before they're vocalized. When something does become public, it's "hurtful and shocking," especially as a black family-owned business, Martin said. Also painful, he said, is when your business is labeled based on the social media post even "when it couldn't be further from the truth.

"That's why it's really important for us to show each and every employee that we don't tolerate that," Martin said. "There are economic consequences for having people who use hateful rhetoric in your business."

AutoNation is not the only public retailer making apologies this month for employee social media activity. On June 4, a video appeared on Twitter of an armed white man wearing a baseball cap backward in the bed of a pickup. "Antifa came to town ... let's just say they didn't stay long," the captions read. "We had over 200 armed patriots stationed downtown. All lives matter."

The person in the video was identified as Bricetyn Weathers, a service adviser at Lithia Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge of Medford, Ore. Within 24 hours Lithia Motors Inc., which is headquartered in Medford, replied to comments on social media.

"Thank you for bringing [this] to our attention," the post began. "We do not condone this and we are taking it very seriously. Store management is addressing the issue now. Our policy is to provide a safe, anti-discriminatory and harassment-free environment, and this extends to social media."

Lithia leaders did not respond to requests for comment. Several posts online said that Weathers had been fired.

Protests against police brutality stir up long-held frustrations and concerns of dealership employees who feel marginalized or undervalued, Damon Lester, president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, told Automotive News.
While corporations display public support for the Black Lives Matter movement, they should look at their own diversity initiatives before issuing public statements, he said.

Establishing processes through which employees can report harassment or discrimination and have the issues taken seriously and lead to meaningful change can also help companies avoid the fallout of inappropriate public behavior, Lester said.

"In order for things to change, you need the effort to make the change," he said. "If you look at the boardrooms of all these companies, the upper management or leadership and you don't have a person of color, they have a diversity issue."

Since dealerships are the most customer-facing branches of the automotive industry, the onus often is on them to represent a brand's public image. Cheryl Thompson, founder and CEO of the nonprofit Center for Automotive Diversity, Inclusion & Advancement, said the actions of individual employees online can make a huge impact on customer and community opinion.

"Everybody's watching all the time. There is nowhere to hide anymore," Thompson said. "There has to be zero tolerance for racial discrimination and injustice."