A resident of Lakewood, New Jersey, testified last week at a hearing by a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor on religious discrimination in the workplace. The hearing was held in light of the introduction of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA).
In her testimony, Ms. Shaindy Schwartz (name changed), an Orthodox Jewish speech therapist, recounted her recent experience of being denied a position because of matters related to shmiras Shabbos. Her appearance was arranged by the Washington Office of Agudath Israel of America, which has played a very active role in drafting and promoting WRFA. The bill — introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) — has bipartisan support and is backed by a broad and diverse coalition of more than 45 national faith and civil rights organizations.
Rabbi Abba Cohen, director and counsel of Agudath Israel’s Washington Office, has worked closely with Congressional leaders, as well as with numerous religious and civil rights groups, over the course of several years to develop and promote WRFA. The legislation, he explained, would effectively override a series of judicial interpretations of the federal employment anti-discrimination law – “Title VII” – that have severely weakened the legal obligation of employers to “reasonably accommodate” the religious requirements of their employees.
“As so many people in our community have experienced, discrimination of the type described by Ms. Schwartz is – sadly — alive and well, “ said Rabbi Cohen. The Agudah representative lauded Ms. Schwartz testimony, calling it “moving” and “articulate.”
“Chairman Robert Andrews (D-NJ) and other Subcommittee members repeatedly complimented and referred to Ms. Schwartz’s testimony, which had clearly made a strong impression on them.”
Thanking Chairman Andrews and his staff for their help in arranging the hearing, Rabbi Cohen expressed the hope that the proceeding “would help the bill continue to move in a positive direction.”
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17 Responses
Aint gonna work on saturday, aint gonna work on saturday!
Way to go. There sure is discrimination and I have also been treated poorly for it.
There should be protections in place for shomer Shabbat employees. Religious discrimination, in any form, is intolerable. But it cuts both ways. My wife told me that she is trying to limit her shopping at a local grocery because she is dsigusted with the owner. It seems that my wife, in her typical expression of kavod habriyot, became friendly with one the cashiers. They make small talk and the cashier plays a little with our infant son. Around New Years, my wife asked this lady if she had a nice Christmas, and was told that the holiday was not nice at all. It seems the owner of the store refused to give his non-Jewish employees the holiday off, even when this cashier told him that she wanted to go to holiday services. She was told, either show up, or be docked a days pay and possibly fired. My wife is so disgusted, she now tries to shop elsewhere. But this too is religious discrimination. For religious non-Jews. Chirstmas is the second holiest day of the year. It is reprehensible for a Jewish employer to ignore that. Even a cashier, especially a cashier, in a grocery store deserves to have her religious convictions respected.
Should We Demand “Our Rights”
I would like to know if the Chachomim(of today or yesteryear) hold we should “Stomp our Feet” and make public our “demand for equal protection” under the law.
The more one makes a “stink” about something , the more we come out smelling bad in the eyes of the goyim.
Let’s be happy that Hashem has placed us in a country that is relatively kind to us, and allows us to live within the laws of the Torah.
We are not forced to work on Shabbos. Woe to Klal Yisrol when a Jewish employee forces a goyishe employer to hire him or her because the Law Says So!
Please let us appreciate what we have here in America; at the same time never forget we are in Golus – this is NOT our country and we shouldn’t act as though it is.
Let’s not forget that WE are in golus and not they. Let’s not push the envelope too far. Of course, within reason we should stand up against blatant discrimination. But we should always have a “hachnoadige” way about it, not “in your face”.
A GITTEN PEEREM!
To cantoresq #3:
While the incident you describe is a shanda. (Quite frankly, that incident you describe unfortunately created a chilul hashem and bad feelings both among the goyim and among yidden such as your wife. [Yes chevra chillul Hashem is created among yidden too.])
However in no way does that mitigate the discrimination that some shomer shabbos individuals have to go through EVERY WEEK!
Furthermore, while I agree with you about the cashier, please understand that her boss was just not being nice. He never purposefully forced her to take that shift.
Your complaint is based upon the fact that we yidden must be more sensitive. And yes I agree.
However discrimination against shomrei shabbat are much more vicious:
And ironically, these discriminatory situations are sometimes perpetrated by bastions of free thinkers that their policy is usually ‘everything goes’ (except religion.)
Case in Point: Abramson v. William Paterson College. 260 F3d 265 (2001) Here is the case in a nutshell. Mrs. Abramson was an employee of William Patterson College, she was a tenure-track associate professor who during her time at the College she was subjected to harassment and ultimately terminated, both because of her Orthodox Jewish beliefs and practices, and because she complained of the employer’s religious discrimination against her.
While Justice Scalia was sitting in the 3rd Circuit, in his concurring opinion he wrote the following:
‘When an employer deliberately reschedules important meetings for Friday afternoons, the message to an Orthodox Jewish employee is clear as a bell. Such rescheduling tells the employee that continued observance of his or her faith will be viewed as incompatible with adequate job performance. Repeated requests that work be done on Saturdays or Jewish holidays — or telephone messages left on a Jewish religious holiday demanding an ‘immediate’ response — are aimed directly at an employee’s religious observance. Criticism of an employee’s effort to reconcile his or her schedule with the observance of Jewish holidays delivers the message that the religious observer is not welcome at the place of employment’ ” (quoting attorney Nat Lewins’ brief to the Court)(id.)
“Intentionally pressuring a person to choose between faith and career is more severe and has a more direct effect on the conditions of employment.” (id.)
“While case law provides only limited protection for employees whose religious obligations conflict with neutral job requirements, Title VII does not permit an employer to manipulate job requirements for the purpose of putting an employee to the cruel choice between religion and employment.” (id.)
Incidents such as Abramson are totally different than the one you (cantoresq) describe.
cantor esquire, maybe the Jewish owner didn’t realize how important that day is to people of that faith, and, had he known, he would have let them off, and certainly not threaten to fire her. Nobody
s beliefs should be ignored, even if they perform the most menial of jobs.
Rather than avoiding his little grocery, why don’t you approach the owner and tell him how you feel so he can correct this avla (give the cashier some perk as an apology, maybe, or at least apologize verbally for making a mistake)? Try not to get the woman fired in the process, but why not tell the owner?
Cantoresq,
While the Jewish employer you describe was certainly insensitive and wrong doing what he did, there is still a big differance here. We Yidden MAY NOT work on shabbos. If we do, we get punished in gehinnom. But christians MAY work on xmas. It’s just the custom of the land to have a holiday, spend time with the family, etc. But I’m not sure if a non-jewish judge will appreciate this distinction too well though.
#7, when an employee tells her boss she wants the day off so she can go to church, and the day in question is Charistmas, there is no reasonable way for the boss to not know thr importance of the holiday. And sorry #8, in this country, there is no presumed excuse to ever deny someone employment due to their religious practices. But having said that, an employer does not have to bend over backwards. My wife is a nurse in a hospital. Her job, like all nursing jobs has a weekend requirement of four weekend days per months. Most nurses work every other Saturday and Sunday. Since in America, as opposed to Israel, there is no heter for nurses to work on Shabbat, my wife works virtually every Sunday. Occaisionally a co-worker has rachmonus on her and takes one of her Sundays. But the sacrifice has profound on our family life. On the one hand our children see first hand mesirat nefesh for the sake of Shabbat, but we all miss out on fun times together.
Cantoresq,
I agree with you this time. However , due to the chiyuv to be Dan lekaf zchus, it is hard to fully believe this story. Also, this is a very isolated incident. If you look, you can find MANY incidents of frum ppl doing things wrong….
It is not a general thing..
Ploni, the obligation to be dan lekaf z’chut does not require us to suspend reason or reality. What is the reasonable kaf z’chut here? I can’t see one. I suppose we could try to determine if this is but an isolated incident. But considering the insensitivity displayed in #9’s post (and BTW, he is wrong. Blue laws were enacted as an enforcement of church laws regarding work on their sabbath. non-Jews don’t refrain from the lamed tet melachot, but they do have rules regarding the day of rest.), which I believe is fast becoming the prevalent attitude among Orthodox Jews, I wonder if indeed we can assume this to be an isolated incident.
#4and#5 big point.This “im equel to u,and am proud to express it” obnoxious attitude in everyday life is very destructive to us and provokes only anti-semitism.were guests in their country we take for granted religios freedom.instead we must have a thankful attitude amongst them in everyday life and remember who we represent.
#9, that’s actually largely incorrect. While it may be true that the gentiles don’t hold to their relatively scant laws with anything near the fervor we are blessed with, they are in fact forbidden from any sort of commercial labor, not only on their major holidays, but on Sundays as well. Whether or not we think HaShem cares what they do one way or another is irrelevant – we have no business telling them what to believe. The fact that most don’t care about this premise anyway is likewise unimportant. If a secular Jew who golfed every Saturday wanted Yom Kippur off to be in shul, would you tell them no?
some peaple cleaely feel there is a double standerd we can demand equal rights and be against discrimination but we don’t have to practice it!!!!
One question to consider – how will any added protection gained by WFRA affect the chances of outwardly Orthodox Jewish poeple being hired by employers? Will this legislation just give another reason for potential employers to not want to hire Orthodox, practicing Jews? If so, is the legislation worth it, or are any potential gains for current employees offset by losses in potential employment opportunities?
If any added protection gained by WFRA will affect the chances of african american people being hired by employers then it will be a united effort for both minorities Jews and african americans and it will be a more populer agenda for politicians like Barack Obama to join the WFRA bandwagon.
Thank you CharlieHall:
I stand corrected.
I was quoting Justice Alito not Scalia.
PS. I think that Justice Scalia would agree with Alito on that one though.