The village chapter of the NAACP has filed a complaint accusing the Ben Gilman Medical and Dental Clinic of religious discrimination for closing on Shabbos.The complaint, filed Sept. 6 with the state’s Division of Human Rights, alleges that the clinic’s practice of remaining closed Saturdays in observance of operators’ Jewish Sabbath, unlawfully imposes their religious beliefs on others.
Complainants say the practice is an unlawful violation of people’s civil rights, particularly since the clinic’s operator, Monsey-based Community Medical and Dental Care Inc., has received millions of dollars in federal funding.
In addition to the Gilman clinic, Community Medical and Dental Care operates Monsey Medical and Dental Center.
Sharon Milner, executive director of Community Medical and Dental Care, declined to comment on the complaint but said the organization had retained attorney Robert Lewis to handle the matter.
Lewis, who has an office in Nyack, also declined to comment.
Willie Trotman, president of the Spring Valley branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the purpose of the complaint was to have the clinic open on Saturdays.
Those who work — more than 80 percent of the clinic’s clientele are Hispanic or black, according to a letter the clinic sent to the Human Rights Commission earlier this year — would find it convenient to visit their doctors on a Saturday when they had the day off, Trotman said yesterday.
The Spring Valley NAACP had previously tried to resolve the situation.
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2 Responses
> has received millions of dollars in federal funding.
THAT’S the clincher! THAT’S the nub of it all. The money. If they were closed on Sunday, no one would say a word. So why does Shabbos bother them? It doesn’t! It’s the money that bothers them. Why can’t all these people go on sunday, when they don’t work either?
It’s the money; I’m sure of it.
more than it’s the money – it is on who is receiving the money. If they are so concerned about heathe issues, instead trying to tear down an existing health clinic, why don’t they open another clinic.