Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Employment Discrimination Suits Proliferate Recently

An unusually large number of religious discrimination in employment cases have made the news in the past day or two. The EEOC has filed suit against Vonage Holdings Corp., alleging that it refused to accommodate the religious needs of an Orthodox Jewish employee, Mikhail Rozenberg, when it refused to permit him to miss parts of a six-week training session in order to observe religious holidays, and refused to offer him positions that would not require him to work on Saturdays. (AP) The EEOC has also filed suit against Merrill Lynch & Co. alleging that it failed to promote, and eventually fired analyst Majid Borumand because hew was Muslim and Iranian. (Wall Street Journal).

In suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota, Chris Lind, employed by Prior Lake High School as a hallway and parking lot supervisor claims that his firing violated his religious freedom by firing him for talking with students about their sexual orientation, including the Biblical view of homosexuality. The school board says that Lind was disciplined for failing to separate his role as supervisor from that of friend of students. Lind has threatened to sue. (Minneapolis Star Tribune).

Finally, in Springfield, Missouri, pharmacist Todd Campbell has filed suit against Nitelines USA and Fort Leonard Wood after he was fired from his job as a hospital pharmacist for refusing to provide proof that he had been vaccinated. Campbell argues that he is exempt from vaccination requirements because of his religion, which he says is "Hebrew". (AP)