PricewaterhouseCoopers to Employees: No Holiday for You
It'sa government holiday, so public sector employees get the day off. Andthe markets are closed, so Wall Street is out today too.
But not everyone gets Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday. From an incensed tipster:
[A friend] at Price Waterhouse Coopers forwarded thisoffensive message, which was sent from the head of PWC US to all USemployees. It is one thing for firm management to decide not to observeDr. King's birthday. It is quite another to dress up that decision,which was clearly motivated by a refusal to bear the costs of observingthe holiday, as a noble gesture in honor of Dr. King's achievements.Clearly,the firm believes that its employees (many of whom are attorneys --hence the email to Above the Law) are unintelligent enough to believethat this thinly veiled insult was intended to honor Dr. King. Evenmore offensive is the fact that the firm denigrates Dr. King'sextraordinary struggles and achievements by equating them with thedaily work of accountants, auditors and tax professionals as they workto save tax dollars and maximize profits for mega-corporations.
The comparison is laughable and utterly offensive. I trust that ATL will not allow the insult to go unnoticed.
We'll let you be the judge. Check out the message, after the jump.
Here it is. We like how "day off" is put inside quotation marks. Scare quotes?
We have not edited this message. Any errors -- including minorpunctuation errors, such as placing a semicolon inside quotation marks,or using a semicolon instead of a colon -- are in the original.
MESSAGE FROM CHAIRMAN DENNIS NALLY TO PRICEWATERHOUSE COOPERS EMPLOYEES
From:
Dennis M. Nally
Sent: 01/18/
2008 09:15 AM EST
To: PwC US Staff
Subject: In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This coming Monday, we commemorate the birthday of Dr. Martin LutherKing, Jr., one of the preeminent leaders in the civil rights movement.At the age of 35, Dr. King was the youngest person at that time toreceive the Nobel Peace Prize, and he is widely known for his worktoward ending racial segregation in public schools and promotingmeaningful civil rights legislation, including a law that wouldprohibit racial discrimination in the workplace.
Dr. King was a remarkable speaker, and his "I Have a Dream" speechis considered one of the most impactful dissertations of all time. Butthere is another quote he delivered that I think is particularlyimportant for us as a Firm:
"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every steptoward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle;the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicatedindividuals."
Many US companies have decided to give employees the "day off" incommemoration of Dr. King's birthday. But as you read the quote above,you realize that Dr. King believed that the efforts around basic humanrights could never take a holiday. As a result, we consider Dr. King'sbirthday as a "day on;" a day to take action; a day to recognize thatprogress is not automatic.
Throughout many of our offices this Monday, we will be hostingtalented high school students from our local markets. The intent ofthese gatherings is to introduce these students to the vast array of
career opportunities that are available to them, not just in ourprofession, but in the business world in general. In keeping with Dr.King's passion for equal opportunity, I believe this is a fittingtribute to his work.
I'll leave you with one
final quote from Dr. King; "Our lives beginto end the day we become silent about things that matter." Equal rightscannot be taken for granted, either personally or collectively as aFirm. I hope that you will take a moment to reflect on the significanceof this holiday and find some way to recommit to the equality andrespect for all individuals that Dr. King talked about so many yearsago.
Regards,
Source:
http://www.abovethelaw.com/2008/01/pricewaterhousecoopers_to_empl.php
