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Coalition for Religious
Freedom in the Workplace
1156 Fifteenth Street NW
Suite 1201
Washington DC 20005
Phone 202-785-4200
Fax 202-785-4115
Examples
of Cases WRFA Would Solve
While many of
America’s employers respect the religious diversity of their
workforce, and take reasonable steps to accommodate employees’
religious practices, there are, unfortunately, exceptions. All too
often, a supervisor refuses to take steps to accommodate
employees’ religious practices, even when it is well within his or
her ability to do so. This paper contains seven brief examples of
cases in which ordinary Americans have suffered in extraordinary
ways because their employers refused to take simple steps to
respect their religious faith.
Amric Singh Rathour, Traffic Enforcement Agent
Mr. Amric Singh Rathour, a practicing Sikh, was sworn in as a new
officer in the New York Police Department on June 18, 2001. During
the eight-weeks of training that followed the swearing in, Mr.
Rathour’s supervisor requested that he shave his beard and remove
his turban. When Mr. Rathour refused to compromise the tenants of
his faith that require men to wear turbans and beards, he was
fired. In contrast, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department is not
only willing to make the appropriate religious accommodation for
Sikhs, but has actively encouraged Sikh Americans to become
officers. Similarly, police forces in the United Kingdom, Canada
and many other nations around the world accommodate Sikhs by
permitting them to wear beards and turbans while serving as
officers.
Teri Strickland, Personnel Manager
Ms. Teri Strickland, a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
worked for a temporary personnel placement agency located in
Oklahoma City. Her supervisor was aware that she, like all
Seventh-day Adventists, kept the Sabbath by resting from
non-humanitarian work from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday
each week. One Saturday, her supervisor called and requested that
she come in to work on a project. Ms. Strickland replied that she
would be happy to come into work after sundown, but due to her
religious convictions, she could not come in before that time. The
supervisor became upset and informed Ms. Strickland that if she
didn’t come in, she would be fired. After being fired, Ms.
Strickland struggled to find a new position. She did some
part-time bookkeeping, and eventually turned to cleaning homes and
selling her plasma to make ends meet. During this time, she
completely depleted her savings and lost her home.
Zeinab Ali, Receptionist
Ms. Zeinab Ali, a practicing Muslim, worked as a receptionist for
Alamo Rent-A-Car. In accordance with her religious faith, Ms. Ali
wore a headscarf. Ms. Ali was asked by her supervisor to remove
the headscarf. Rather than removing the scarf altogether, Ms. Ali
replaced the scarf with a smaller head covering. After a
protracted period of negotiations over the headscarf issue, Ms.
Ali was laid off. Her efforts to gain legal redress have failed.
Peter Howard, Warehouseman
Mr. Peter Howard worked in the warehouse of Haverty Furniture
Companies. A number of years after he began his employment with
Haverty, Mr. Howard was ordained as a Methodist minister. On two
occasions, Mr. Howard was forced to miss work because of his
ministerial duties. On the second occasion, one of Mr. Howard’s
parishioners died, and the funeral was set for a Saturday. Mr.
Howard asked on Thursday to have the Saturday off so that he could
perform the service, and was told to wait until Friday for a
response. On Friday at 5:00 pm, the supervisor told Mr. Howard he
could not take Saturday off to fulfill his religious duties. Mr.
Howard went ahead and conducted the funeral, but when he returned
to work he was fired.
Michael Escoffery, Delivery Van Driver
Mr. Michael Escoffery, a Rastafarian, worked as a driver for
FedEx. As a Rastafarian, Mr. Escoffery wears his hair in
dreadlocks. FedEx maintained a tight personal appearance policy
that did not include exemptions applicable to the Rastafarian
hairstyle. When Mr. Escoffery was asked to cut his dreadlocks, he
refused. FedEx fired Mr. Escoffery in May of 2001.
Teresa George, Hardware Store Employee
Ms. Teresa George, a Roman Catholic who is convicted that she
should not work on Sundays, worked for Home Depot. She
communicated her religious conviction to her supervisor. Her
employer offered to permit Ms. George to have time off on Sundays
to attend Mass, but refused to accommodate her need to spend all
of Sunday in rest and spiritual reflection. When Ms. George
remained steadfast in her religious conviction, Home Depot refused
to explore possible accommodations and fired her.
Richard Katz, Repair Technician
Mr. Richard Katz, an Orthodox Jew, applied to work as a repair
technician with Sears. Mr. Katz received high marks on the
employer’s test, but was told he would not be hired because he
would not work on his Sabbath. Mr. Katz offered to work on Sunday
nights instead of Saturdays, but this offer was rebuffed. Sears
consistently told Mr. Katz that the reason for its refusal to hire
him was that Saturday was the busiest day for repair technicians.
Later investigations established that in fact Saturday was not the
busiest day.
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