“This pilgrimage is necessary...is required? How many Muslims actually do this?”
It is required. The Hajj (pilgrimage) is one of the five pillars of the islamic faith and anyone who can afford to do it is expected to do it. To prevent overcrowding and deaths from stampedes (which typically happen anyway) the Saudis limit the Hajj to some two to three million per year.
While I am not a fan of islam, the DOJ is right on this one. Allowing the teacher to take *unpaid* time off to complete a religious obligation is a reasonable accomadation - just the same as it would be to allow a Catholic teacher to take unpaid time off to visit the Holy Land and to perform the stations of the Cross.
I know that’s not a popular thing to say on here, but I’m just pointing out the fact that we live in a country where legal precedent is law. If muslims can be stopped from their religious observances then so can we.
And the Hajj this year was from November 14 to November 18. It was NOT something that could wait for summer vacation. If we assert that it has to wait for summer vacation then we set the precedent that Easter, Christmas, Yom Kippur, Hannukah, and etc. have to wait for summer vacation.
Note: I am just being fair about this, okay?
“It is required. The Hajj (pilgrimage) is one of the five pillars of the islamic faith and anyone who can afford to do it is expected to do it.”
Actually, I don’t think this is necessarily a religious obligation during the school year. It is only required ONCE in a person’s life It can be delayed to another time. It also depends on the school system’s/state’s required student-pupil time.
“...just the same as it would be to allow a Catholic teacher to take unpaid time off to visit the Holy Land and to perform the stations of the Cross.”
This is NOT a religious obligation.
The question is: would the school district have granted unpaid time off to the Catholic teacher? If not, then they aren't discriminating.
Employers (public and private) are required to make "reasonable accommodation". If someone takes a job that plainly requires they are expected to work the 180 days of the school year, then they must do so unless a personal or family emergency makes it impossible.
Some school districts give teachers a handful of "personal" days each school year that can be used at the teacher's discretion. But at least in my local school district, the teacher is required to find a substitute teacher for planned absences.
Other than those personal days, teachers are limited to the same holiday/vacation periods as students: summer, spring break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. They can't take lengthy vacations in the middle of a school year outside those planned holidays.
No, the Justice Department is totally wrong on this one. The Haj is required (if possible) only once in a Muslim's lifetime. That is no requirement that this teacher go this particular year, and since the Muslims follow the lunar calendar, the Haj will fall in summer eventually so that teachers could go during their vacation.
These things should be worked out between a teacher and the school, with no JD involvement.
If a teacher were suing because Catholicism was their official religion and they wanted to go to the Holy Land to do stations of the cross, confession requirement and The Vatican for a month unpaid; do you think the DOJ would take a case out in the teachers defense?
I doubt it.
Plain and simple....This is Holder at the DOJ being a political partisan hack. This is not his jurisdiction. It is below his pay grade. It is political pasturing. It is abuse of power. If it were not please cite the cases where Holder played attorney for any other such trivial case.
The facts are that Obama and Holder like to be on retainer for terrorists rights and politically correct partisan stances.
Perhaps. . .but I am willing to bet the DOJ would NOT support a Christian doing anything for religious purposes.