WA Teen Fired for Wearing Broncos Jersey to Work

When the fashion police wear college navy, action green, and wolf grey, it’s time to revoke their badges. 

Seventeen-year-old Nathaniel Wentz claims the Odyssey 1 family entertainment center in Tacoma, Washington fired him for wearing Broncos gear to work. Wentz’s boss explained to employees that they could wear football jerseys to work last Sunday. Wentz wore the wrong kind.

After showing up in a Denver Broncos jersey, Wentz got sent home to change, presumably into some Seattle Seahwks duds. But the teen never returned. That sounds more like quitting than getting fired. But what “die-hard” Broncos fan could take an employer’s green at the expense of hiding the orange?

The case is far from a first. In 2011, Oak Lawn, Illinois car dealership fired a salesman for wearing a Green Bay Packers tie to work. That same year a carpenter sued Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, alleging that the football coach flipped out on him for wearing a University of Oklahoma baseball shirt to work on a project at Gundy’s home. The carpenter alleged he lost $30,000 in lost revenue because Gundy withdrew from the project for specious reasons. Also in 2011, a Seattle-area middle school sent a student home from school for wearing a Steelers shirt on a day when the principal had encouraged students to dress in support of the Seahawks.