ESPN Guards Can't Stay

(From The Hartford Courant -- By Eric Gershon)

When security guards at ESPN's headquarters learned in September that their employer, GUARDSMARK, had lost its contract with the sports network, many figured they would jump ship and join its successor.

So did the successor, SECURITAS SECURITY SERVICES USA
of New Jersey, which pitched camps in Bristol and Southington
to meet with applicants.

Then Guardsmark invoked clause 8(a) of the guards' employment contract.

It forbids them from working for other firms at locations where they were stationed by Guardsmark in the previous
12 months, a restriction that lasts a year.

Securitas responded by telling Guardsmark employees that they would not be hired for ESPN jobs, but were welcome to apply for others at the company.

With Guardsmark's ESPN contract due to expire in early December, many guards now find themselves bitterly contemplating choices that would dislodge them from jobs they like and for which they're uniquely suited by experience.

Whether they are reassigned by Guardsmark, hired by Securitas elsewhere or become unemployed, they'll be leaving the home of SPORTSCENTER and the ESPN personalities who make them proud to come to work.

"When CHRIS BERMAN walks up to you and says 'Good morning,' to you, you're nice to him," said TOM ROTON,
a Guardsmark employee stationed at ESPN in Bristol for the past two years.

About 140 guards work at ESPN's 100-acre Bristol campus and other locations in Connecticut and New York.

They typically earn between $10 and $12.50 an hour,
guards said.

ESPN Guards Can't Stay