Bus Driver Fired Over Burger Promo

The Orange County Transportation Authority fired a vegetarian bus driver Friday who refused to distribute coupons for free Carl’s Jr. hamburgers.

The authority cited driver Bruce Anderson’s refusal to follow orders--not his dietary beliefs--as the reason for his dismissal.

“To us the issue has never been about hamburgers or meat or anything else,” said authority spokesman John Standiford. “It’s a case where he made a conscious decision not to do a reasonable part of his job. It’s a matter of not following orders.”

The nature of the agency’s business requires its drivers to observe strict discipline, Standiford said, or bus service would suffer.

On the advice of his lawyer, Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred, Anderson declined to comment on his firing.

Union officials said they would fight for Anderson’s reinstatement. They plan to file a grievance.

“I think to the authority it’s very simple--it’s insubordination,” said Mike Patton, business representative of the Teamsters Local 952. “But to us it’s a huge overreaction.

Several hours into his route Tuesday, Anderson was ordered off his bus. Before starting work, he had refused instructions to hand out the coupons.

In the promotion, riders receive free hamburgers at Carl’s Jr. Orange County restaurants if they also buy soft drinks. The promotion is scheduled to run each Tuesday this month. At a disciplinary hearing Thursday, Anderson had offered to be assigned to different duties for those three days.

Carl’s Jr. says it did not influence the authority’s decision to fire Anderson.

Anderson’s case has become nationwide news. Animalrights groups, 1st Amendment advocates and others have offered opinions on the case.

“The Orange County Transit Authority is punishing Bruce for his beliefs by taking this unnecessarily drastic measure of firing him,” said Ava Park, founder of the animal rights group Orange County People for Animals, of which Anderson is a member. The group has set up a fund to help Anderson pay his living expenses while unemployed.

But by firing the bus driver, the authority “educates Orange Countians about the institutionalized abuse of millions of animals in factory farms, in laboratories, in the entertainment industry and the making of fur,” Park said.