Illinois Village Sued For Refusal To Accommodate Jehovah's Witness Employee

A former Oak Park, Illinois employee on Friday filed a lawsuit against the village claiming that it wrongfully refused to accommodate her religious beliefs.  The TribLocal and the Pioneer Press report that Jehovah's Witness adherent Shawnya Robinson originally worked in Oak Park's community relations department, but was transferred the clerk's office when her original position was eliminated for budgetary reasons. Robinson had religious objections to registering domestic partnerships. She also objected to being involved in voter registration, interpreting her church's teaching of political neutrality as preventing her from being involved in any way in the voting process. Although Robinson was originally told that it would not be a problem to accommodate her religious beliefs, eight days after she began her new job she was fired because her supervisor became concerned about office morale problems that would be caused by Robinson's being exempted from some duties. The Illinois Department of Human Rights in September dismissed similar charges filed with it by Robinson.