Library Worker Wins

[MommaSquid]

By Dana Fields
ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 16, 2006
 
SAVANNAH, Mo. â€" Three years after she was fired for refusing to work on Sundays, Connie Rehm has won back her job on the staff of this small town's public library, and her employers have received a costly education in employment rights law.

No less a legal team than the same Florida attorneys who represented the parents of Terri Schiavo â€" the brain-damaged woman at the center of last year's right-to-die case â€" took up Rehm's cause, suing Rolling Hills Consolidated Library on a claim of religious discrimination.

A federal jury found in her favor after a three-day trial in May, and last month she was reinstated on a judge's order to the staff assistant job she had held for 12 years before her religious practice and the library's adoption of Sunday hours collided in 2003.

To Rehm, a 54-year-old former junior high school math teacher who still attends the Lutheran church where she and her husband were married 34 years ago, the outcome of her case is a victory for any employee whose conviction against laboring on the Sabbath is tested by workplace demands.

“A middle American, mild-mannered, small-town library person â€" I attribute to the Lord a great sense of humor for having picked me for this test,” Rehm mused in an interview at her home in rural Savannah, a northwest Missouri town of 4,900.

Though claims of religious discrimination are growing in number, they were only a tiny segment â€" just 3.1 percent â€" of the slightly more than 75,000 complaints filed last year with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“Religious discrimination claims are definitely a new hot topic,” Paul said. “A lot of companies and organizations are now operating longer hours and more days a week, so inevitably you're crossing paths with other parts of people's lives, including religious practices and observances.”

The jury awarded Rehm $53,712 in damages, representing her lost library wages minus what she earned at other jobs after being fired. But the real prize was recovering the job she considers “a gift from God” because it allows her to serve her community.


Full Article

This article was in my local paper today.

[donkeyhoty]

If Steve Young, a devout mormon, can work on Sunday(he almost didn't enter the NFL for this reason, but mormon religious leaders said it was ok) then so can this trick.  

What about a surgeon that needs to perform an emergency appendectomy on Sunday?  Sorry, I need to observe the Sabbath.  Come back tomorrow.

I really hate this woman.  Religious descrimination my ass, Is it religious descrimination against me because I can't buy alcohol whenever I want? The Supreme Court says no, so why does this bitch not have to work on Sunday?

Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, US Supreme Court: Establishment Clause claim upheld; The Connecticut statute, by providing Sabbath observers with an absolute and unqualified right not to work on their chosen Sabbath, violates the Establishment Clause.

I really hope the library appeals, and she loses both the money and her job again.

[Big Mac]

Well a surgeon is a lot different than a librarian. Besides, if you are that desperate for a surgeon I'm sure one would be provided to you. I agree with religious days off, to an extent. Sunday is usually slow (not to mention I didn't know libraries were open on it) and letting someone off would be better financially for your group. I agree that the restriction on alcohol is bullshit because it affects us directly (I wanna buy booze on Sunday when I run out) and should be challenged.

[MommaSquid]

And which Sabbath are we talking about...Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?  Do priests want the day off?  Just think of how many businesses Christians could close if they all sued their employers.  

Wikipedia Sabbath


Maybe businesses should start hiring Buddhists to work weekends.

[Big Mac]

They could. Or just hire atheists and offer overtime. We'll see how many of these types will give up extra money for God. A social experiment on a grand scale.