Is this discrimination?

Question

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290324,00.html

A Nebraska meat packing plant is in turmoil over Muslim workers demanding time off during their shift to pray. They say their religion dictates they must pray each day, during a 45 minute break at sundown. Some apparently walked off the production line without permission and were fired. Others quit in protest.
The plant manufacturer says he has many Muslim employees, and if they all take off at the same time to pray the line would have to be shut down. He says the only people who were fired were ones who walked off the line without permission and that no one was fired for praying.

In the US, employers must make reasonable accomodation for religious beliefs. That does not mean shutting down production. This is an example of the medieval muslim mind. Most Christians and Jews long ago gave up strict teachings about the sabbath to accomodate modernity. It's time muslims did the same. What do you think?

Answer 1

How much time would a Christian worker be given to pray in Iran?It's time we stop this political correctness nonsense. Its went way to far.no other nation accommodates everyone of a different religious belief.Yes, they should be able to worship as they please, but its not our responsibility to bend over backwards.and change our way of life to placate them.Political correctness.........spread it on your lawn and watch how green it turns.

Answer 2

The law requires that employers make REASONABLE accomodations. Adding an additional 45 miniute break is not reasonable. Demanding foot washing stations is unreasonable. Getting a job as a taxi driver, then refusing numerous rides, because they have alcohol or a seeing eye dog is NOT reasonable. Working in a grocery store and refusing to ring up any pork products, or alcohol is unreasonable.

What's next, are they going to start screaming discrimination unless all the women in their place of work required to cover thier faces ?

I have no patience for Christians who go to work for a pharmacy and refuse to fill prescriptions that they disagree, nor do I have any patience for Muslims who expect their employer to turn the workplace into their own private mosque.

If someone has a very restrictive religion, they need to find employment that fits their religion, not demand that their workplace shut down production, to accomodate them.

Answer 3

1) No. It is not discrimination by this definition:
" treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination."
The 'merit' of the individuals is not in favor of those praying. The company has the right to judge them as being derelict , in my opinion.
2) Why did the workers decide to work in a place where their contract said that such a break would be unscheduled?
3) The worker who thought that they needed to pray at a certain time in a fashion that would take them away from work were being dishonest if they knew that it wouldn't be okay with the owner of the company.

So no. It is not discrimination by the second definition from dictionary.com .

Answer 4

Yes, the Muslims are discriminating against their employer. They knew the conditions when they applied for the job and either falsified their application or lied during the interview.

Perhaps they didn't understand the question (always asked in some manner no matter what language they conduct the interview) "what hours can you work?" If so, they should be fired for their inability to understand that basic question. I don't trust anyone to prepare my food that doesn't understand that basic tenet of the American work ethic.

It would be best for the strictly adherent Muslims to work the Third shift, so they come to work after their evening prayers and are gone home before their morning prayers. Their mid-day prayers would be according to their rules (not sure if they would wake for the mid-day prayers or pray during their scheduled lunch break.)

Answer 5

This seems to be an example of America becoming like "the tower of Bable"

There's no longer formality within our country that says you may come over here, "welcome to America" but because your in America, you must be as flexible as you expect us to be.

This employer made a mistake of seeming too flexible. It is against the law to target someone's religous beliefs, or ask religious guestions upon hiring.

It's to bad he wasn't "visionary" enough to point out at the time of hiring that he needs CONSTANT PRODUCTIVITY on the production line, and ask the applicant can they do this. Will this be a problem? Without making any reference to religion.

This protects him from being labeled as discriminating, but keeps his business productive. I sense we are moving towards a society where people are not open to or accomadating to their diverse enviornment, but expect you to be flexible with them.

Do they think if they worked at a gas station, they would be able to do this, or any other job for that matter. Diversity is great, but when peoples lifestyles become a burden there has to be compromise, or else the person shoud go to an environment that supports their inflexible view on life.

People must learn to blend in, to a certain extinct. Especially when you live amongst others. Where not talking about 1 day, like most of us go to church on Sunday, and will have or take the day off. Where talking about everyday, not good.

Answer 6

While it is common to see Jews and Christians walking around on their Sabbath days, it is just as common to see Muslims doing the same. Many people, especially Orthodox Jews, still observe the Sabbath strictly. This is most commonly seen in large communities such as Borough Park in Brooklyn and Tel Aviv in Israel.

But to answer your question, I feel it is best that government or employers leave the choice of religious practices to the individual instead of setting up a series of hoops to jump through so the individual may be easily classified. In short, Muslims who want to observe the standard prayer schedule should be allowed to... And those who would rather have their own schedule should be free to waive their rights to do so.

Answer 7

Christians are faced with the decision of whether they will work on Sundays or not.

Jews, JPs and others whose sabbath is Saturday must make a similar choice.

Muslims have to choose which is more important a strict adherence to certain practices that conflict with business or adapting to the situation.

Its a personal choice and should not be decided by litigation. However it behooves us all to provide a compassionate context within which to make these kinds of choices.

We used to have laws outlawing shopping on Sundays. Personally I think that it was correct to abandon that line of thinking.

I don't think that a business should be forced to shut down because of someone's beliefs whether those people are in the majority or minority. I have respect for people of faith but they must live by their decisions and practices and not try to force them on others.

We live in a multi-cultural society, a multi-cultural world and we must find ways to peacefully coexist...

...and this applies to all concerned.

Answer 8

I don't think we can tell them to retire their strict prayer regimine. Though I am an atheist, I think that it is a beautiful thing---the devotion, the faith, the believing. Hopefully, treating each other as they'd like to be treated.

None the less, we're capitalists and it is unreasonable to shut down production. If the Muslims cannot compromise, they should seek an occupation which allows their prayer. Why would they want to work someplace that hindered their practice?

Answer 9

I don't know if it's discrimination but it surely seems reasonable that the plant would expect people to do the job they were hired to do. No one is forcing anyone to work there.

If I owned a shop which was open on Sundays, any Christians who follow the ten Commandments could choose to simply not apply for that job. That's not discriminatory, it's just common sense.

Simple.

Answer 10

The company probably provides scheduled breaks--pray then. The Muslims are to pray at least 5 times a day--I believe.

Get a load of this--The University of Michigan is paying $45,000 to install foot baths in restrooms so the Muslims can wash their feet before they pray!!!

Answer 11

we make so much fuss over stuff like this. i recall when the usps had a snit over east indians who wore turbans - saying that they weren't regulation uniforms. solution? they wear turbans in postal colors...how complicated was that?

and wendy's hamburgers was discriminating against young black women who wore braids - saying it was against their company dress policy -okie-dokie...this from a company whose logo is a white girl with braids...

this situation probably has some sort of easy solution as well, but we have to get all crazy and hater-ish about it...how about they schedule their lunches during this time, or that they work shifts where this won't be an issue...