Former Employee Sues Na'amat For Religious Discrimination

The New York Daily News reports on a religious discrimination lawsuit filed Tuesday by Marshall Garvin against his former employer, Na'amat USA (a Jewish social service agency) and his supervisor there, Susan Schwartz. Garvin says he was fired immediately after he complained to Na'amat's president about his treatment by Schwartz in connection with his leaving work in order to say Kaddish for his mother who died in January. Observant Jews say the Kaddish prayer 3 times each day for 11 months at religious services after a parent dies. Garvin says that Schwartz phoned several local synagogues and told him which ones he could attend, harassed him about where he was, and kept him from attending services around 15 times. Na'amat says Garvin was laid off in a reduction of force. Apparently Garvin in the past won two settlements in religious discrimination cases against the U.S. Postal Service, where he worked for over 30 years.