Mid-morning yesterday, the Internet broke shortly after the Supreme Court issued its 5-4 decision in HHS v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.. Jeez, I’m still cleaning out my Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook feeds. In case your wifi, 4G, 3G, dial-up, TV, radio, and other electronics picked the wrong day to quit…
Late last year, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission scored a big victory when a federal judge found apparel company Abercrombie & Fitch liable for religious discrimination when it fired a Muslim employee for wearing her hijab (a religious headscarf) in the workplace, rather than accommodating her religious beliefs.…
Here’s a little HR Pro Tip from your old pal, Eric. If, around Halloween time, an employee requests permission to hand out bags of candy containing “gospel tracts,” which depict Muslims and Catholics and state that they should all go to hell, you just go ahead reject that religious-accommodation request.…
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about Scientology. Why, my Scientology acumen could fill a thimble. Basically, I know that Tom Cruise is a Scientologist and Katie Holmes was a Scientologist; but, not anymore. Anything else comes from my favorite gossip blog, The Superficial,…
We’re talking religious accommodations here at the ole Handbook. Last week, it was the Mark of the Beast. Before that, we explored Ramadan bagel parties. Today, we’re sticking with the Ramadan theme. Unfortunately, I don’t know any Ramadan tunes to soundtrack this post. So, let’s just go with Christian rock.…
Play us in Keith Richards… Last month, the EEOC announced here that it had sued two companies, claiming that they violated federal law by failing to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs: According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Beverly R. Butcher, Jr. had worked as a general inside laborer at the companies’…
Sounds like someone’s taken a page out of the Lionel Hutz playbook. Patrice Williams is a Seventh-Day Adventist. Seventh-Day Adventists believe that the Sabbath runs from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Because of her sincerely-held religious beliefs, Ms. Williams requested that her employer not require her to work during the…
This week, I am on vacation. The Supreme Court didn’t get my memo. Fine. But, I’m not putting down my beer to write this post. So, you get a one-handed rundown of the two employment-law decisions the court issued yesterday. Pardon my typos after the jump… * * * A…
Bad Van Halen pun aside, let’s play some Skynyrd. Even Waldo agrees. So, there was this woman in Louisiana who took a teaching position at an elementary school. You know the kind; one that operates on weekdays. And, around her start date, she asked the administration for Tuesdays off to…
Robert Mariotti was the vice-president and secretary of the company his father founded. Not only was he a corporate officer, but Mariotti also served as a member of the board of directors, and was a shareholder who could only be fired for cause. In 1995, Mariotti had a spiritual awakening,…