A Butler County man claims in a federal lawsuit that Iron Mountain, one of the nation’s biggest record storage companies, fired him after he wore a sun visor emblazoned with its name to the rally where President Donald Trump was shot in July.
Images of Clarence Stamm in the visor circulated in media coverage of the assassination attempt, and according to the complaint, Iron Mountain fired him five days later for violating company policy that bars wearing its apparel to political events.
Stamm is suing for violations of his First Amendment rights to free speech and free association, as well as retaliation.
“Defendant’s decision to terminate plaintiff’s employment is pretextual, retaliatory, and was taken by individuals within Iron Mountain who have animosity towards President Trump and his MAGA agenda,” the lawsuit said.
The company’s “Code of Ethics and Business Conduct,” which is attached to the lawsuit as an exhibit, instructs employees to “avoid wearing Iron Mountain–branded clothing when attending political events.”
Messages left Friday morning with Iron Mountain were not returned.
According to the lawsuit, Stamm, who started working for the company in Boyers, Butler County in 2014, attended the July 13 rally at the Butler Farm Show. He wore an Iron Mountain sun visor as he had done numerous times in his community, the complaint said.
Trump’s ear was injured in the shooting, which killed one spectator and wounded two others before the Secret Service killed the gunman.
After the shooting, when Stamm returned home, he watched media coverage of the incident and noticed that he could be seen in the background. Some of his friends saw him, as well, and texted him screen shots of the coverage.
“Plaintiff was proud of his participation in the historic rally, his support for President Trump and his MAGA agenda, and President Trump’s defiant response to the failed attempt to kill him and his MAGA agenda,”” the lawsuit said.
Stamm, who had told his supervisor he’d planned to attend the rally, said afterward that his boss sent Stamm a text to check on him.
Stamm replied by sending him the screen shot of him in the crowd, writing: “I’m fine Keith. Did you see I made it on Fox News wearing my Iron Mountain sun visor!!!”
Five days later, he was fired.
In the termination letter, Iron Mountain wrote: “To recap, leadership became aware of you wearing an Iron Mountain logo’d visor to a political rally on 7/13/2024 when you texted the following picture and caption to your supervisor,” the letter read. “Clarence, this behavior is considered unprofessional and unacceptable and in direct violation of Iron Mountain policies, especially the Code of Conduct and Core Values. Therefore, your employment is terminated effective July 18, 2024.”
As part of his employment, Stamm was required to follow the company’s code of ethics and business conduct and sign a compliance certificate, the lawsuit said.
The relevant part of the code, according to the lawsuit, reads: “The company is committed to: (e) keeping the political activities of the company’s employees separate from the company’s business.”
“Nowhere in defendant’s Code of Ethics and Business Conduct does it prohibit or restrict its employees from wearing defendant’s promotional merchandise in their respective communities.”
However, according to the code of conduct, it does address politics “in and out of the workplace.”
“We believe that an open and robust political process makes for a fairer, more productive society. We also believe that everybody has a right to express their own beliefs and participate in civic affairs, but while at work, we must be considerate and inclusive when discussing personal political causes or beliefs,” it said.
It goes on to say that employees should be careful when taking personal politics into the work place.
In the lawsuit, Stamm noted a section in the ethics code called: “Valuing Inclusion and Diversity … Including and respecting diversity in our words and actions helps to maximize each employee’s contribution and enables us to make better decisions.”
It is accompanied by a photograph of presumably Iron Mountain employees wearing gay pride T-shirts with the company’s logo while marching in a parade.
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“Much like the other employees identified above, plaintiff attended the rally to exercise his First Amendment right to freely speak in support of President Trump and his MAGA agenda,” the lawsuit said.
In February, Elon Musk alluded to Iron Mountain’s storage site as he criticized the federal government’s process of handling retirement paperwork, which is kept in the company’s Boyers facility.
Thomas W. King III, the attorney representing Stamm, has represented the national Republican Party and the Trump administration in federal litigation. He said Iron Mountain can’t pick and choose what political speech it allows.
“Once a company allows certain speech, it can’t prohibit other speech,” King said.
The lawsuit alleges that Iron Mountain qualifies as a state actor, meaning Stamm can obtain both compensatory and punitive damages under federal civil rights laws, because the company holds various federal contracts and performs functions for the government, including handling classified documents and national archives.
Stamm is seeking monetary damages.