Remember the Worker Fired For Eating Pork?

 

1. A good ball-kicking would take him out of the gene pool.

   Posted by dick       08/07/2004  at  11:01 PM  



2. RE: Workplace

   As long as the rules were known in advance, a deal is a deal. I believe the Sunday gal initially did not object to Sunday work, but came to believe against it.
   As to the pork thing, if she went out of her way to offend, then to hell with her. An accidental offense, like a salami sanddwich, should be forgiven.

   Posted by Walter E. Wallis       08/08/2004  at  12:44 PM  



3. Toughies. She took the job knowing Sunday work was required, then changed her mind. Bye bye.

   My guess was that she used religion as a ploy to get out of work, and now, having been fired, she’s trying to get back at the company.

   Fuck her, and the trial lawyer she rode in on.

   Posted by Kim du Toit       08/08/2004  at  02:03 PM  



4. Actually, there are a couple of things here that differentiate the two situations.

   1) In the case of the library worker, her employer is a government entity.  As such, it is bound by the First Amendment, and cannot discriminate based on religioun without a compelling reason for doing so.  Furthermore, Federal law (and the laws of most states) generally protect a worker against being fired due to the obligation to observe a sabbath.

   2) In the case of the pork firing, you have something very different.  As a private employe, the company does not have the obligation of religious neutrality that a public employer does.  The employer may legitimately set work rules that conform to his religious beliefs, provided he does not run afoul of relevant statutory obligations (for example, he could not require a burqa because of sex discrimination laws).  But since the employee cannot show a religious obligation to eat pork, there is no violation of her religious rights—especially if the employer can how he is trying to create a situation defending the religious rights of other employees (in this case, showing that the pork ban is an attempt to prevent the contamination of the food of Muslim employees in the fridge and microwave, or on counters and tables).

   I once had a Mormon employee who forbade caffeinated beverages in the office.  Another forbade Nestle broducts because her church was boycotting the company over its formula marketting policies.  Those were legal—I checked.  For that matter, I once had an employer ban all Coke products because of a contract with the local Pepsi distributor.  That was legal, too.

   And I ask you this about the pork ban—would you be nearly this worked up if the guy’s name was Moshe Goldblum?

   Posted by ThePrecinctChair       08/08/2004  at  02:17 PM  

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