Religious beliefs, workplace issues are sometimes hard to reconcile

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When religious beliefs and work rules clash, as they did in September for Muslim workers at a northern Colorado meat-processing plant during their holy month of Ramadan, the consequences can be devastating.

Federal laws require employers to accommodate an employee’s sincerely-held religious beliefs and practices unless doing so causes undue hardship.

In the packing-plant dispute, more than 100 Muslim workers, most of them Somalis, were fired for refusing to show up for work in protest over JBS Swift & Co’s refusal to allow them what they considered an adequate break for sunset prayers.

Those fired have the option of filing grievances, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints or lawsuits.

In response to the firings, both national Islamic and Jewish groups, such as the Anti-Defamation League, have urged respect for religious practices in the increasingly diverse workplace.

“This is a core issue for us. Everybody in our society should have the same freedom to worship or not worship as they choose without interference from the government or an employer,” said Bruce DeBoskey, director of the Anti-Defamation League’s mountain states region.

“Yet, we see people losing jobs. We see people have to use vacation to celebrate their high holy days. We see people docked pay,” DeBoskey said. “Most employers follow the law, but violations are still common occurrences.”

The EEOC, which has just provided new guidelines, describes “undue hardship on the employer’s legitimate business interests” as greater administrative costs, diminished efficiency in other jobs, infringement on other employees’ rights or benefits, impaired safety, increased workload for co-workers of “hazardous or burdensome work”, or conflicts with other laws.

Christians seldom file complaints because important holy days already are accommodated by the American calendar, DeBoskey said. Worship services are on Sundays. Christmas is a national holiday.

The Jewish Sabbath ends with Saturday evening prayers. Fridays are the days of Muslim congregational worship, called Jum’ah.

This year, the Jewish high holy day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sundown Wednesday and ends at sundown Thursday.

For Muslims, the most difficult issue is typified by what happened at the Greeley slaughterhouse—a dispute over what is adequate accommodation of prayer in factory or assembly-line work.

“That’s our toughest nut to crack in terms of religious accommodation,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.

It’s a year-round issue that tends to peak during Ramadan, Hooper said, when Muslims are perhaps more mindful of their devotional duties.