PJI Helps Calif. County Employee Win Religious Accommodation at Work
by Allie Martin
November 10, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Christian woman who works for a local government agency in California has won the right to have Sundays off so she can attend church services. The employee, who has asked not to be identified, has worked for a county agency in the East Bay area for 20 years and, until recently, was always able to be off on Sundays. However, after a recent change in management, the public employee's schedule was changed to require her to work every Sunday, which would have prevented her from attending church as she normally did. Concerned about this, she sought an accommodation from her supervisor, pointing out that the change was not only inefficient but unnecessary and in conflict with her free exercise of religion.
After the worker's persistent entreaties, the county agency grudgingly offered to allow her one Sunday off per month to attend church, provided that she use her vacation time to do so. The woman sought legal assistance from a public-interest legal group, Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), which wrote to the county on her behalf.
In the letter, PJI explained the requirements of the federal Civil Rights Act that employers provide reasonable accommodations for employees' religious needs. In response, the county changed its position and adjusted the employee's schedule so that she was no longer regularly required to work on Sundays.
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Brad Dacus |
PJI president Brad Dacus says this incident demonstrates how important it is for people of faith to know their rights under U.S. law and the Constitution. "It's just an example of some of the growing, clear intolerance and bigotry against Christians and people of faith, particularly here on the West Coast and in places like San Francisco," he says. Christians must not only know their rights, Dacus asserts, but they must stand up for them. "If they don't," he says, "then they're going to be surrendering these rights and impacting others down the road who wish to go to church or practice their faith and not be discriminated against."
PJI conducts "Faith at Work" seminars for businesses in an effort to educate business owners, CEOs, and supervisors about religious freedom in the workplace. He says the seminars are designed to equip and encourage workplace officials to support religious expression through specific policies, projects, and office communications.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
