Posted on 06/02/2013 11:15:08 PM PDT by grundle
EEOC Sues Star Transport, Inc. for Religious Discrimination
Agency Charges Trucking Company Failed to Accommodate and Wrongfully Terminated Two Muslim Employees For Refusal to Deliver Alcohol Due to Religious Beliefs
PEORIA, Ill. - Star Transport, Inc., a trucking company based in Morton, Ill., violated federal law by failing to accommodate two employees because of their religion, Islam, and discharging them, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.
The lawsuit alleged that Star Transport refused to provide two employees with an accommodation of their religious beliefs when it terminated their employment because they refused to deliver alcohol. According to EEOC District Director John P. Rowe, who supervised administrative investigation prior to filing the lawsuit, "Our investigation revealed that Star could have readily avoided assigning these employees to alcohol delivery without any undue hardship, but chose to force the issue despite the employees' Islamic religion."
Failure to accommodate the religious beliefs of employees, when this can be done without undue hardship, violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion. The EEOC filed suit, (EEOC v. Star Transport, Inc., Civil Action No. 13 C 01240-JES-BGC, U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in Peoria, assigned to U.S. District Judge James E. Shadid), after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement through its statutory conciliation process. The agency seeks back pay and compensatory and punitive damages for the fired truck drivers and an order barring future discrimination and other relief.
John Hendrickson, the EEOC Regional Attorney for the Chicago District Office said, "Everyone has a right to observe his or her religious beliefs, and employers don't get to pick and choose which religions and which religious practices they will accommodate. If an employer can reasonably accommodate an employee's religious practice without an undue hardship, then it must do so. That is a principle which has been memorialized in federal employment law for almost50 years, and it is why EEOC is in this case."
The EEOC's Chicago District Office is responsible for processing charges of discrimination, administrative enforcement and the conduct of agency litigation in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and North and South Dakota, with Area Offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.
The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its website at www.eeoc.gov.
This should be distributed widely. An employer would be batshit crazy to hire a Muslim now.
Mandatory hiring.
“John Hendrickson, the EEOC Regional Attorney for the Chicago District Office said, “Everyone has a right to observe his or her religious beliefs, and employers don’t get to pick and choose which religions and which religious practices they will accommodate. If an employer can reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious practice without an undue hardship, then it must do so. That is a principle which has been memorialized in federal employment law for almost 50 years...”
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He forgot to add, “Unless you are a Christian, in which case we have the right to force you to pay for RU486 and we don’t give a rip whether it violates your beliefs or not.”
We're not talking about making them drive a bacon truck where they'd have to touch all that icky pork product.
I seem to remember a case of a muslim cabbie who refused to pick up a passenger at the airport who had a guide dog. IIRC, the authorities had no problem threatening to yank his license for "discrimination".
My religion calls for total bed rest while the employer places $10,000 per month on my debit card. Who do I call?
don’t hire any muslims and get rid of any you have. they wil be nothing but trouble from now on.
Christians can refuse to haul abortion supplies without repercussions. Right? Right?
More than one nurse/healthcare worker has been
fired for refusing to aid in abortion procedures
due to their religious beliefs.....where was the
EEOC then?
So...this same regime that is quite willing to force Christian religious organizations to provide birth control and abortifacients to their employees is standing by two muslims who refuse to do their job.
Does this EEOC arbitrary ruling affect interstate commerce?
Ruling a truck line can not discipline employees who refuse to deliver interstate merchandize because of a religious belief on their assigned route by an agency who’s director was appointed by-passing the constitutional process demonstrates runaway abuse of executive power this administration has been using.. Should be inckuded in articles of impeachment once drawn up.
Their attorney should use that in the defense.
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