Employment rights victory for Messianic Jew 9New.com reports on Messianic Jewish prison warder who was sacked for refusing to work on Shabbat.
John Schutte is a Messianic Jew whose religious beliefs bar him from doing conventional work on the Sabbath – sundown Friday through sundown Saturday.
Schutte appealed his 2010 firing from the Buena Vista Correctional Facility to the State Personnel Board. In an opinion dated Dec. 16, Denise DeForest ruled the Colorado Department of Corrections “unlawfully discriminated” against Schutte because of his religion.
The ruling says Schutte offered reasonable alternatives to working on the Sabbath, such as splitting up his days off and swapping shifts with co-workers. The DOC was unwilling to consider those alternatives, the ruling states.
The DOC bends over backwards to accommodate the religious beliefs of offenders. Why not the same for employees?
Do you really want to know, Susan? It’s very sad, but I think I can tell you.
While watching this video, I figured (because of something similar that happened to me years ago) that Warden John Davis was a Christian. A quick search online verified my suspicion. In Clearview Community Church’s
monthly newsletter (Buena Vista, CO – Feb.2011), Daniel Elhers, from the “Good News Jail & Prison Ministry” wrote, “One of the best things that have happened recently is the installation of a very committed Christian Warden, John Davis. Pray for him as he attempts to implement programming in sympathy with Christian principles.”
Yep.
Now, while there’s no way for me to prove that what John Schutte experienced was just another case of persecution borne of Christian ignorance, I’d be willing to bet that it was nothing but. I’ve seen it many times before. Not only was the Warden unwilling to defend his believing brother, he was the one that actually fired him for refusing to compromise his religious convictions.
I’d love to learn that my theory is completely invalid, but I don’t imagine I will.
Luke,
Very good point Luke and i have seen this kind of attitude also from those who are supposed to be brother’s in the faith. Very sad.
It would be interesting to know if he is actually a Jew, as I know the Messianic Gentile movement is big in Colorado.
It would also be interesting to know more about the case. Was he already working there? Did he accept the job knowing he would have to work on shabbas?
I can see both sides of things….it would be great (but I don’t think it should be mandatory or law) if an employer can work things out with someone who requests a special schedule. But at the same time, what a mess it could be trying to accommodate everyone: Muslims wanting time off to pray five times a day, or their sabbath off; Christians and Jews wanting their holy days off, and then the atheists claiming they are being discriminated against because they get stuck working all the weekends and nights. Could turn into a big mess.
Personally, I’m for less government intrusion in our lives, so I oppose laws such as these where an employee can demand a certain schedule and be backed up by the law on it. It an employee is valuable, the employer will work things out. If not, then the employee has the decision to make whether to stay there or find a different job that accommodates his schedule.
This reminds me of something similar, where Muslims that were working for a company filed a complaint because the company was requiring them to clock out when they stopped working to pray five times a day. The company did not say they could not pray, they just said they were not going to pay for it and it was fine as long as the employee clocked out and then back in when
done. That wasn’t good enough for the employees….so this kind of thing can easily get totally out of hand.