GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Grand Rapids woman claims she was discriminated against and fired due to LGBTQ+ content that was posted on one of her social media accounts.
The company says those claims are not true.
Alyssa Knapp had only been at her new job at Jonas Paul Eyewear for one day. Then 24 hours later, "they told me that because they had found 'sexually explicit' photos on my professional makeup artist Instagram page, that they had to terminate me effective immediately," she said.
"They escorted me off the premises, not even allowing me to collect my belongings."
Knapp had been hired at Jonas Paul Eyewear as an optical lab assistant, cleaning glasses in their warehouse. She also does professional makeup on the side, and the company told her that some of her photos posted on an Instagram account for her makeup business were "sexually explicit."
Knapp said that's not true.
"I think the photos that contained gay male friends of mine in makeup and underwear, were the photos that were offensive to them," she said, "but it is nothing that you wouldn't be able to see at a beach."
"I think it was the fact that it was queer content that really triggered them," she added.
Knapp said she was never given any contract, paperwork or code of conduct from the company when she was hired, but she was transparent about her other work and that she did makeup for both weddings and boudoir photoshoots during her interview.
"I was very frustrated by that, and why they hadn't chosen to look over my social media during the interview process," she said.
She said she even turned down another job for the one at Jonas Paul.
"I thought I would at least have been asked to edit the photos, take them down, or put the account on private," said Knapp, "and I would have understood and been happy to do that."
"I thought that there were a lot of steps that I could've taken to get more to their taste, but they didn't allow me to do that," she added, "I was just terminated."
In a statement sent to 13 On Your Side, Jonas Paul Eyewear said the following:
"Jonas Paul Eyewear is a children's focused eyewear brand that has helped kids and teens feel confident in their glasses for nearly 10 years. We are proud to employ an incredible team that believes in equal opportunity for all and do not discriminate against anyone based on their race, religion, or sexual orientation. Any insinuation that a personnel decision was made based on someone's sexual orientation or gender identity is completely false. As this is a personnel matter, we are unable to comment further."
"Every business is entitled to their own values," Knapp said, "and I completely understand that my content isn't necessarily for everyone, but I don't think because they're a children's company is a good enough excuse because it was not my personal page."
"There was nothing sexually explicit there, and nothing has ever been flagged or taken down by Instagram," she added. "I think they are denying the fact that some of those images made them personally uncomfortable, and they chose to terminate me even though those photos wouldn't affect my work performance at all."
Knapp said she has reached out to the ACLU and EEOC just to see what her options are.
"I'm not really sure what I'm going to do here," she said, "but I was angry, and I feel like people in this community need to know that things like this are going on, and I want people to take accountability for their actions."
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