Posted on 01/17/2019 4:10:20 PM PST by lowbridge
A hotel dishwasher was awarded $21.5 million this week after she managed to convince a Miami jury that her employer had violated her religious rights — by making her work on Sundays.
“I love God,” said Marie Jean Pierre, speaking to NBC 6with her lawyer Marc Brumer.
“No work on Sunday because Sunday I honor God.”
Pierre, 60, got fired three years ago from her job at the Conrad Miami hotel — which was managed by Hilton at the time — after missing multiple shifts on Sunday to attend church service.
She later sued, claiming the hotel had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — which bars race, religious and gender discrimination by employers.
Pierre and Brumer alleged in court hat the devout Baptist told her bosses she couldn’t work on Sundays and that she was a missionary, but they penciled her in anyway.
The hotel agreed to stop giving her the Sunday shifts for a lengthy period between 2009 and 2014. However, this ended in 2015 and they eventually began “demanding” that Pierre start working again.
“They accommodated her for 7 years and they easily could have accommodated her [again], but instead of doing that, they set her up for absenteeism and threw her out,” explained Brumer. “She’s a soldier of Christ. She was doing this for all the other workers who are being discriminated against.”
Pierre was ultimately able to persuade jurors that her “sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance” conflicted with her employment requirement to work on Sundays.
She was awarded $536,000 in damages to compensate for lost wages, emotional pain and “mental anguish” — and $20 million in punitive damages, according to federal court documents.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I make my dishwasher work any time I want, Sundays, 3 AM...
Figure it’s only a matter of time some wacko liberal 0bama judge will force me to pay, and pay backpay, my dishwasher.
??
My dishwasher won’t be happy with backpay... it will want repairations.
I assume she’s giving one tenth to her church.
Makes the case for Muslims to get in on the religious beliefs lawsuits. - Tom
But she loves money a whole lot more!
Nucking futs.
That’s one way to draw people to church.
Probably only a matter of time before she divorces you too. :-)
Praise Jesus. What a great ruling.Shut this country down on the Day of our LORD!!
Must have been a Maytag.
There needs to be more to this story. Did her initial hiring terms indicate that she had to work Sundays? Had she been promised at any point that she wouldn’t have to work Sundays?
Story seems odd to me.
“The hotel agreed to stop giving her the Sunday shifts for a lengthy period between 2009 and 2014. However, this ended in 2015 and they eventually began “demanding” that Pierre start working again.”
And that’s where they lost their case.
Usually, when you interview for the job, they tell you if you are expected to work night or weekends.
She should not have taken that job.
Sounds like a case in which the Jury needs to be found in contempt, and sent to jail for 30 days.
Maybe she actually had something in writing indicating that she would never have to work Sundays.
Change it to "Muslim" and "mosque" and I bet your tune would be different, even though it'd be the exact same legal argument.
Seems to be an excessive amount, five years wages plus legal costs perhaps, somewhere around half a million? I agree it’s a valid case but the amount seems out of line.
You realize this precedent will enable Moslems to sue for being forced to work on Friday, don't you?
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