Whitehall Healthcare to Pay $35,000 for Refusing to Accommodate Jehovah’s Witness’s Scheduling Needs
By the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,
Whitehall Healthcare Center of Ann Arbor, an Ann Arbor, Mich., skilled nursing and long-term care facility, will pay $35,000 to settle a religious discrimination suit filed by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced Friday.
In its lawsuit filed in late 2011, the EEOC alleged that Whitehall discriminated again a woman, employed as a certified nursing assistant, because of her request for a religious accommodation. The employee is a practicing Jehovah’s Witness, and she requested Whitehall not to schedule her to work on Wednesdays or Sundays so she could attend spiritual meetings and participate in field service as a part of her sincerely held religious belief. Whitehall’s administrator fired her when she informed Whitehall that she would not be able to work on Sunday due to her religious obligations, the EEOC said.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Whitehall Healthcare of Ann Arbor, LLC, Civil Action No. 2:11-cv-15407) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
The approval of a consent decree by Judge Avern Cohn brings a formal end to the litigation between the EEOC and Whitehall. In addition to paying $35,000 to the discrimination victim, the resolution requires the company to provide training to all employees regarding requests for religious accommodations, create a new religious accommodation policy and file reports with the EEOC regarding compliance with the decree’s requirements.
EEOC Trial Attorney Lauren Gibbs, Supervisory Trial Attorney Kenneth Bird, and Regional Attorney Laurie Young led the government’s litigation.
“Federal law is clear that employers must make a reasonable effort to achieve an accommodation to solve a situation like this,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Laurie Young. “Doing so is the best way to avoid lawsuits like this.”
The EEOC’s Detroit Field Office is responsible for processing charges, administrative enforcement, and conducting the agency litigation in Michigan and portions of Northwest Ohio.
The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information is available at www.eeoc.gov.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are highly litigious and oppressive to those who are dissident inside and those outside their cult-like group.
Your hatred is so very obvious it completely takes any credibility from your comment Marion.
As to this worker: Instead of slinking away she stood up for what what is a legal right. By so doing she strengthened your rights too Marion.
Marion, do you think the laws that protect citizens should be taken away? Or do you only want them applied to people and cases you feel are worthy? If it is the latter then congratulations. The court applied the law to this woman because they reviewed the evidence and counted her worthy of protection.
Marion, there are a handful of ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses who lurk about on the Internet and say outlandish things. In fact, what they say would be simply silly if it weren’t for the venom and hatred that is behind the statements. You don’t want to be linked to that little cult of glass half empty types do you?
Very well but.
Excellent reply!!!
Jehovah’s Witnesses split families, harbor pedophiles, have a history of refusing certain forms of medical treatment costing countless lives, and have the longest list by far of failed doomsday predictions. . . . it’s common knowledge, even among many JW’s themselves.
Are they harmful? . . . very!
Jesus did NOT preach door to door! Witnessess are not persecuted, no one cares about this little cult religion. The witnesses are persecuted only in their own mind! People just criticize them for their cult behavior and wrong teachings
Jehovah’s Witnesses are a cult of predatory psychopaths that will exaggerate,LIE and swear on the Bible.Their greedy Watchtower has NO public charity and ruin family life.
You hate Jehovah’s witnesses without even understanding what you hate. Soloman Thomas you quote opinions and not facts. Try finding some facts so as to sound sane rather than rambling about a peaceful loving religion.
Jehovahs Witnesses and freedom of speech.
They will extol and preach *God’s Kingdom* and this sounds attractive,what they obfuscate from you is their Watchtower society version that Jesus has already had his second coming October 1914 and is working *invisibly* through them.
They have won 37 of their 46 Supreme court cases assuring us all of freedom of speech and assembly and equal protection under the law.
The sad irony is that the Watchtower Society *daily* abuses the human rights of thousands of its members. It denies current members the right of free speech by forbidding them to speak to former members, even close family members.
And it denies former members their right of freedom of worship by refusing to allow them to leave the religion with dignity, should they come to disagree with Watchtower’s practices or doctrines.
The religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses is an oppressive cult that controls every aspect of its members’ lives.
I have relatives both inside and outside the Witness organization. I do not feel oppresed. You’re comment is hate driven and irrational.
The critical examination and exposing of harmful Jehovah’s Witnesses practices is not ‘bashing’ or ‘hurling hate’.
Don’t shoot the messenger.
You would think that by now every employer would know that they simply cannot discriminate against religious beliefs.
How much longer is it going to be before that understanding finally sinks in?
We appreciate what was done for our sister Jehovah’s Witness. It is strange that in this enlightened age we live in that such action would be taken aby a company. Accomodation has to be made for all religions. Sunday is not a special day for Jehovah’s Witnesses, but it is when one our important Bible studies takes place. We feel that spiritual growth that this meeting gives is very important to our spirituality.
Thank you to all who had a part in this decision.
This is great, i Work in a Nursing Home as a a Nurse. I am always having a problem with getting off, for my religious conventions.
As you can see Linda from this article, this Jehovah’s Witness, by her stand, just strengthened your own right to worship as you see fit.
I applaud this judgement because this nation was built on the premise that everyone would enjoy basic freedoms such as religious freedom. However, Jehovah’s Witnesses DO NOT believe in religious freedom. If a so-called “publisher” discovers falsehoods in the Watchtower teachings and then decides to join another church, he/she will be severely shunned by friends and family in the JW religion. Yes, the Watchtower will sugar-coat this and say that everyone is free to leave at will, but that just IS NOT the case because of the fear of being disfellowshipped. So the Jehovah’s Witnesses are quick to become litigious whenever their “religious freedon” is infringed upon, yet they don’t extend that same freedom to their own members… highly hypocritical.
NO OTHER RELIGION… has done more for the fight for freedom of human rights than the Witnesses…this is well testified by sources…. outside …of the Witnesses….a lot of freedom granted to other people religious or not is a byproduct because of the Witnesses fight for human rights….
Again another case of a JW fighting for her religious convictions and winning what is in the law of the nation and thus protecting everyones rights. If this was any other religion these hate mongers wouldn’t say a word even if that religion had some covenant they didn’t like or think was fair.
What you guys feel is an unfair practice and thus against religious freedom, isn’t such if you would really look at it. A cult would do everything to hold on to a member, even kidnaping them, not allow them to do what they want. Ones who leave this religion choose to do so knowing what is to happen if they break the Bibles moral standard, which is the guideline.
Jesus always used the scriptures when asked a question, thus, instead of replying with how you think things should be, if you want to argue christian religious concepts (like door-to-door work, shunning, morals or doctrines) then you should follow his example!
All the comments here that employ the “HATE” cry are the same Jehovah’s Witness troll logging in and out with different user names.
Jehovah’s Witnesses fanatics can only scream “hate” whenever they are cornered.
Same as Scientology…..
Both parties have valid points in this comment section.
- Witnesses DO have a long history of fighting for religious rights in the good ol’ US of A. (As well as abroad.)
- Most witnesses are very kind, honest, productive. They do have a standard that they expect of their members, and that’s admirable. This isn’t a faith that lets you show up on Sunday and forget about it for the rest of the week.
- Witnesses HAVE been singled out for persecution. (The history of Witnesses being put in Nazi training camps is a popular pointed to example of this) and
- Witnesses have done a lot to push the medical community to alternatives for blood transfusion that are actually quite effective (example: blood expanders)
But there’s also the flip side of this coin:
- Witnesses have made proclamations of certain dates that haven’t come true. The largest one being the 1914 one, but more recently the idea that the generation from 1914 would not pass away before the end of this system of things. (Think Armageddon) These are continually modified along the way and explained as the “light getting brighter.” Where other religions changing their minds and beliefs is pointed to as proof that they are in the wrong, this odd double standard doesn’t apply to wisdom coming from the faithful and discrete slave.
- The Witness faith HAS THE POTENTIAL to be very dividing of families. While not a “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” policy, it IS very much a “if you don’t believe the same things we do, we’re not allowed to associate.” I’ve seen some families take this to rather sad extremes where people never talk to each other again, and I’ve seen others try to skirt around the issue best they can, while retaining some normalcy. It’s a bit disconcerting either way.
- Every faith/belief has been persecuted. Catholics, Protestants, Mormans, you name it. Even atheists get persecuted. And they all hold this up as proof that makes them right, as the bible said it would be the case. Unfortunately, on this detail, they all qualify, so it’s no real proof of anything.
- It’s true, it’s difficult to leave this religion without dignity. I’ve seen the way people talk about disfellowshipped witnesses, and you can hear the sadness in their voice, almost as if the one no longer in the faith were a ghost or leper. It’s usually some somber quiet one sentence announcement at a meeting. “So and so has been disfellowshipped.” Then one of two things happen. You either try to avoid that individual, or they come back, show repentance, ‘do their time’ and then another one sentence announcement. “So and so has been reinstated.” Then everything is hunky dory again. The point being, if you’re born into this faith, it really is stressful to leave it, and the consequences mean, AT BEST, you’ll have less association with your family. To this day that doesn’t set well with me. They teach it as a kind of necessary protectionism. So be it, but I think it does more harm than good.
The best way i know how to describe Jehovahs Witnesses : Like the early Purtians, they fought tooth and nail to reach religious liberty in the “new world”, but then THEY BURNED THEIR OWN TO THE STAKE WHEN THEY DISAGREED WITH THEM.
that is all…..have a nice day.
as i very proud former member of the bunch. i say good for her for standing up for her rights. i think that most witnesses believe in what they are being spoon fed..its the orgization not the members that are supremely screwed up…the members are mindless sheep and proud to be called sheep…they change thier theology like i change my panties and the members have to suck it up and be thankful for being enlightened….what others are saying is very true. i decided to leave the fold and my parents wont even talk to me. and all i decided was that i dont believe this is the word of god and POOF! that was it…and that is according to what the Society preaches to cut off family members. while i do miss my family its so nice to be AWAY…that religion is seriously stressful. from worrying about the lenghth of your freaking skirt, to behaving like a normal 22 year old and drinking and KISSING not even having sex but KISSING a boy and getting slammed for it and labled a slut…no thank you….and please google jehovahs witnesses and look in the news…the just lost a 20 MILLION dollar lawsuit for covering up a molestation…