A contractor who works with the Army and Air Force is backing down after being caught targeting a worker for having and reading a Bible.
The American Center for Law and Justice explains the dispute developed after a new employee, on duty for only a few months, was targeted by the company “for keeping a Bible on her desk and reading aloud from her Bible during break time.”
The worker had kept a Bible on her desk, and read from it on her own time.
She sometimes would answer questions from others, the report said.
Then her supervisor showed up, and “told her she must remove her Bible from her desk and would only be allowed to keep it at work in a locker – out of sight of other employees.”
The worker asked for a meeting with the company’s human resources department, and there, stunningly, was informed “she must remove her Bible from her desk” and also “must cease reading her Bible aloud in the breakroom – even though other employees were permitted to engage in a host of personal activities in the breakroom, including reading books aloud, playing potentially offensive movies and music out loud, using offensive language, and sharing inappropriate jokes and stories with employees,” the ACLJ said.
Only days later she then was “written up” for discussing her faith.
“In the weeks that followed, our client experienced an increase in negative criticism of her work as well as the removal of her desk where she had previously kept her Bible. Shortly after being written up, our client’s hours of work were also reduced to eliminate her lunch break and break time – an action that has all the hallmarks of retaliation,” the legal team explained.
The problem, for the contractor, is that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it unlawful for an employer “to discriminate against any individual in regard to his or her terms or conditions or privileges of employment.”
That includes treating workers differently because of their religious beliefs.
The standard is that if any employee is allowed to have personal items on their desk, another employee is allowed to have his or her personal items there.
Further, an employer cannot prohibit an employee from reading religious material in a break area during personal time, especially where other potentially offensive material is permitted,” the ACLJ said.
“Reprimanding an employee on the basis of their religious activities without a showing of undue hardship constitutes religious discrimination,” the report said.
The ACLJ sent a demand letter to the company, which, like the worker, was not identified, and it reversed course, announcing it would allow the worker to have and read her Bible.
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This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
This post originally appeared on WND News Center.