The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said on Tuesday it had sued Vonage Holdings Corp. alleging the company discriminated against a Jewish employee and fired him. The commission alleged in its complaint filed in federal court in New Jersey that Vonage subjected Mikhail Rozenberg to discrimination on the basis of his faith — Orthodox Judaism — by refusing to accommodate his religion in training sessions and work shifts.
Vonage knew when it hired him that he was Jewish and needed to work during times that did not conflict with his religious observances, the commission said.
But the company refused to allow Rozenberg, for religious observances, to miss two days of a six-week training program despite a policy of allowing other employees to miss sessions with proper documentation, the commission alleged.
Vonage also told him that he was not a “good fit” and that when he stopped practicing his religion he could come back, the commission alleged.
(Reuters)
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10 Responses
AFTER HEARING SUCH A STORY, WE SHOULD LET ALL THE YIDDEN KNOW THIS SO THAT ANYONE WHO HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH VONAGE OR HAS A DSL OR TELEPHONE NUMBER FROM VONAGE, THEY SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CANCEL THEIR SERVICE AND TELL THE COMPANY WHY THEY DECIDEWD TO CANCEL AND THEN IT WOULD BE A TREMENDOUS KIDDUSH HASHEM.
get them good and hard; get lots of $$$$$
they are a dying company anyway, being sued for patent infringment etc.
I worked as a consultant to Vonage in voice quality in 2005. I never saw any other frum yidden. This was a few months before this person was hired. This was in Edison, before they moved to Holmdel, NJ.
The founder/CEO o Vonage, Jeffrey Citron, is a Yid. He is worth $500 Million from the sale of his last company, Datek, to Ameritrade. He sits in a cubicle in middle of all the other employees cubicles, and seems so ”regular” it was a few weeks before I realized he was the CEO.
I used to work for a jewish company that employed a non jewish worker. It was around pesach time and the worker wanted to take off for the holiday of Easter.The employer refused and told her if she wanted to take off , she should work for a non jewish company.For some reason , these type of law suits only go one way.And if she would have attempted to sue, she would of been considered the bad anti semite. We live in an upside down world.
BOND:
R’ Avigdor Miller relates a story about a y.u bochur who was assaulted and the bochur took out nunckucks to fight back, to which the goyim responded by r”l killing him.
I think a bigger kiddush hashem is not barking back at a dog when he barks at you. You just end up looking like a fool.
Let this man make his money, I think that alone will knock some sense into vonage.
my objection to these types of cases, is what happens when i want only observant jews at a certain executive level in my company, or a worker who deals with the public wears a tzelem (assuming i allow a chai necklace; not that the chai necklace has any religious significanmce; it doesnt; its just “cultural”)???
or some excessively machmir jew doesnt want to give his employee off for xmas or easter, cause he (machmirly) feels he is “observing” that yom aidam by giving his employee that day off .
CAN ANYONE CORRECT ME???
isnt Vonage owned by jeffery cytron of highland park (edison) who is shomer shabbos himself.
now how in the world did this happen???
MiMedinat HaYam: for many people, a tzelem is also nothing more than cultural, or just jewelry. I’m not saying I understand that, but it seems to be that way for many people.
It was founded by Mr. Citron who is currently its CEO. He also founded Datek Online before it was sold to Ameritrade. Is he Shomer Shabbos?