The New Jersey Transit employee fired for publicly burning pages of the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is getting his job back.
A settlement obtained by The Star-Ledger Newark shows Derek Fenton will receive $25,000 for pain and suffering when he resumes his $86,110-a-year job. He’ll also receive back pay equal to $331.20 for every day since his firing on Sept. 13, 2010.
The state will also pay $25,000 in legal fees to the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit claiming Fenton’s right to free expression was violated.
The 40-year-old was not working when he set fire to three pages of the Quran in September in Lower Manhattan to protest a planned Islamic center near ground zero.
(Source: MyFoxNY)
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6 Responses
That comes out to a rough estimate of a little over $70,000 of paid vacation (sort of say). Can someone loan me a Koran?! (sorry, some pages might be missing when I give it back, but I be able to replace it in about 7 months) 😉
Congratulations on a well-deserved victory. A victory of free speech. And a victory against terrorism.
#2, I wonder if a White Supremacist that was employed by the NJ Transit and he were to burn the Talmud, would you share the same sentiments and applaud the bigot for Free Speech, or would you be up in arms along with Hikind and his clan? Whenever the victim is not of the Jewish faith, there always seems to be this double Standard. Can someone explain that to me?
#3, he would have the right to do it without being fired
I have some sympathy because he burned a book that calls for the murder of Jews. That is a lot like burning Mein Kampf
What this man did is reprehensible, and I would hope that his friends and neighbors have condemned him on a personal level for his shameful conduct.
That said, another great victory for freedom! Following close on the heals of the Supreme Court’s decision in Snyder v. Phelps, this settlement confirms that the free expression of political and religious views is alive and well in this country.
We need only lament that it takes boorish and uncouth characters like this together with their disgusting actions to affirm these basic protections. As with halachic problems like aguna and mamzerus, we ought not fault the laws, but the people – the menuvalim b’reshus hadin – for the sad state of public affairs in this country.
#3, I don’t believe it’s right to burn someone’s religious books, but in the context of this situation it seems to be different…I find it hard to be politically correct & give equal rights to a religion that is notorious for killing innocent people. I know that people say that “not everyone” who practices “that religion” condones the actions of terrorism, but I have yet to see anyone from them publicly condemn terrorist actions.
I just don’t think that you can equate the burning of the Talmud to the burning of the Koran.