Religious Discrimination: Going To Get Fired If I Can’t Work Sundays
I’m a Christian. I believe Sunday should be a day of rest, and I’m also in nursing school so it really is a day of rest for me. We got a new manager at the place I work at. She said if I couldn’t work Sundays I’d be let go. I’m available other days and when I was hired they said it was okay if I couldn’t work Sundays as I was hired for casual part time. The new manager said I wouldn’t go to hell if I missed one Sunday a month… I just feel like she’s imposing on my religion.
Is that discrimination? If not… Is it unfair? Is there anything I can do about it? It’s a Sunglass Hut in Maryland, by the way.
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3 Responses to Religious Discrimination: Going To Get Fired If I Can’t Work Sundays
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Religious Discrimination & Reasonable Accommodation
The law requires an employer or other covered entity to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs or practices, unless doing so would cause more than a minimal burden on the operations of the employer’s business. This means an employer may be required to make reasonable adjustments to the work environment that will allow an employee to practice his or her religion.
Examples of some common religious accommodations include flexible scheduling, voluntary shift substitutions or swaps, job reassignments, and modifications to workplace policies or practices.
http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/religion.cfm
First of all, "michr" is right. If you read the link he provides, the employer only needs to try to "accommodate" you as long as it is not an undue hardship to them. They are accommodating by not asking you to work every Sunday and only one a month. You need to be accommodating as well. Most Christian churches do not have a strict policy requiring their members to refrain from work on Sundays. Actually, the "Sabbath" is on Saturday, did you know that? If you were required to wear a headdress for your religion, for example, they could not require that you remove it. But in your case, they are only asking for one Sunday a month and you are a part time employee. They have every right to fire you if you don’t make an effort to comply with their scheduling needs.
If your nursing school required you to be available on a Sunday, I bet you would. This is a case of you not wanting to work on a Sunday and having your "rest" from school. It sounds to me that you are conveniently using your "religion" for your own purposes here.
can you go to church on Sunday night or Wednesday night?
all the employer is asking is for one Sunday a month which is not unreasonable.
it is not discrimination unless your church believes you can NOT under any circumstance do ANY work on your Sabbath (Sunday)… most Christian denominations do NOT have that belief…….
to understand what is and is NOT religious discrimination see:
http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/religion.cfm