January 19, 1998
In a letter to the Chrysler Corporation's Chairman and CEO, Mr. R.J. Eaton, the Union of
Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the nation's largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella
organization, has commended Chrysler for accommodating the religious needs of a sabbath
observant employee.
Mr. Barry Fishler, a worker at Chrysler's Toledo, Ohio Jeep plant, was facing the prospect
of losing his job due to his refusal to work on the sabbath. A 20-year veteran at the
plant, Mr. Fishler's shift schedule was changed upon his return to work from an extended
medical leave. His new placement on the night shift would have required Mr. Fishler to
work Friday nights, thereby violating the sabbath. The current state of the law requires
Chrysler to do little to accommodate religious needs of employees like Mr. Fishler. Mr.
Fishler's attorney, Pete Silverman of Toledo, was in the process of initiating a letter
writing campaign on behalf of Fisher, an effort in which the Orthodox Union was preparing
to join. At the end of last week, Chrysler announced that it would permit Fishler not to
work on Friday nights as long as he would return to the full schedule of the day shift as
soon as that shift had an opening.
The letter sent to Mr. Eaton by the Orthodox Union stated, in part, that "Chrysler's
decision to work with Mr. Fishler in order to ensure that he can be both a good Chrysler
employee and a good Jew is an act that will serve as a model for other American
corporations and businesses. By supporting American values and showing faith in its
employees, Chrysler has shown by example what responsible and sensitive corporate behavior
should be and, significantly, that accommodating the religious needs of one's employees is
good business."
The Orthodox Union's Institute for Public Affairs, along with a host of other religious
groups, are working to have Congress pass the Workplace Religious Freedom Act this year.
That legislation would require employers to accommodate the needs of employees like Mr.
Fishler as long as the employer would not suffer a significant hardship by doing so.
NATHAN J. DIAMENT Director, Institute for Public Affairs, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
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