and the stupidity award goes to the National Federation of the Blind! I wonder
whether the NFB membership will be apprized of this.
Chuck
From: R. E. Driscoll Sr
Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2015 9:39 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Fwd: [acb-chat] Oops! National Federation of the
Blind Sued for Religious Discrimination by EEOC
All:
This came in the morning mail. It had rather long "TO and COPY" sections which
I have deleted... Further details may be found in the link.
R. E. (Dick) Driscoll, Sr.
National Federation of the Blind Sued for Religious Discrimination by EEOC
Advocacy Group Terminated an Employee because He Would Not Work on the Sabbath,
Federal Agency Charged
BALTIMORE - The National Federation of the Blind, the largest organization of
blind and low-vision people in the United States, violated federal law when it
refused to allow an employee to observe his Sabbath and instead terminated him
because of his religion, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it announced today.
According to the lawsuit, Joseph R. Massey II is a practicing Hebrew
Pentecostal, a Christian denomination, and abstains from working from sunset
Friday to sunset Saturday based on his sincerely-held religious beliefs. The
National Federation of the Blind hired Massey for a bookkeeping position at its
Baltimore office in November 2013. In January 2014, the Federation told Massey
he had to work certain Saturdays. Massey explained he could not work Saturdays
due to his religious faith and suggested alternatives such as working on
Sundays or working late on week nights other than Fridays. EEOC charged that
the Federation refused to provide any reasonable accommodation and instead
fired Massey because he could not work Saturdays due to his religious beliefs.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which
prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals because of their
religion and requires employers to reasonably accommodate an employee's
sincerely-held religious beliefs unless doing so would impose an undue hardship
on the employer. EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. The National Federation of the
Blind, Civil Action No. 1:15-cv-02484-GLR) in U.S. District Court for the
District of Maryland, Baltimore Division, after first attempting to reach a
pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
"Employees should not have to choose between their jobs and their religious
convictions when a religious accommodation will not unduly burden others," said
EEOC Philadelphia District Director Spencer H. Lewis, Jr.
EEOC Regional Attorney Debra M. Lawrence added, "Most religious accommodations
are not unduly costly, such as allowing an employee to switch his schedule to
observe his Sabbath. No employee should be forced to choose between earning a
living and following the dictates of his faith."
EEOC's Philadelphia District Office has jurisdiction over Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and parts of New Jersey and Ohio. Its legal
staff also prosecutes discrimination cases arising from Washington, D.C. and
parts of Virginia.
EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further
information about the agency is available at its website, www.eeoc.gov.
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/national-federation-of-the-blind-sued-36517/?utm_source=JD-Supra-eMail-Digests
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