US Sues School Over Denial Of Muslim Pilgrimage

No. And apparently a lot of other Muslims don't want to be in those countries, if you walk the streets of Flint, Mich., or Buffalo or San Jose. But don't come over here and demand three weeks off from a public school teaching job for a holiday in another country.

 

FYP

 

That's disingenuous and you know it. We make all kinds of accommodations to people from other countries. We tip-toe around their sentiments and feelings and by and large, it's what is great about this country. Too bad it's not the reverse in other countries.

And tell me when Muslims have been persecuted and to what degree in this country that in any way comes even light-years away from what Jews have suffered in other countries. Don't insult the millions of victims of the Holocaust by that insensitive, ludicrous, incredibly hateful throwaway remark. Again, don't make me laugh: not getting three weeks off = getting gassed.

 

I'm wondering what you mean by "a holiday in another country." The Hajj is a religious obligation, and it can be performed during a specific period each year. If you want to call that a holiday, fine. But it's not a holiday peculiar to one country, or even a group of countries. It's an obligation for Muslims. In other words, it's not a holiday just for Saudis or Egyptians, the way Memorial Day or July 4th is a holiday for Americans. It's a holiday for Muslims everywhere, the same way Easter is a holiday for Christians everywhere and Yom Kippur is a holiday for Jews everywhere. There are Muslims in America. Do they lose the right to celebrate their religious holidays when they come here? What about Muslims who are born here, or Americans who convert from other religions to Islam? Do they not get that right, either? The First Amendment might say differently.

You're right, of course, that any persecution Muslims have suffered in the United States is light-years away from what Jews have suffered elsewhere. So? I hope you're not suggesting that because Muslims haven't suffered much, they shouldn't be allowed to practice their faith, or that civil-rights laws -- laws that protect people of all faiths -- shouldn't be enforced on their behalf.

If your point is that other countries -- Muslim countries -- treat people of other faiths like second-class citizens, I'll echo the comments of dog428 and JC: Are we supposed to lower ourselves to the standard of those countries? Our Canadian friends might disagree, but I think almost all of us here who are Americans, no matter what our political persuasion, would agree that the United States is the greatest country in the world. What makes it so great? Our freedoms. And freedom of religion is a big one -- it's right there in the Bill of Rights, in the very first amendment to the Constitution. Deny it, and America becomes less like it's supposed to be and more like those countries you have such contempt for.

 

Yeah, but it was fun.

 

Bump.

 

The Muslim angle is irrelevant to the discussion. Any Catholic who got an audience with the Pope would be at the Vatican the next day and their employer would not only have granted unpaid leave but asked to go with them. Nineteen days or not.

People who medical missionary work after a disaster. Or volunteer firemen, or people on jury duty or national guardsmen who get activated are all generally granted leave for various lengths of time.

Just about all employers will allow someone to take short-term unpaid leave for personal reasons. Most would grant long-term unpaid leave. Why this school chose not to, on its face, looks dumb, really, really dumb.

It gave them legal exposure for no reason.

I'd like to take a look at the filings and see what the DOJ had to say because the story wasn't all that clear. Was it 19 school days, or did it include weekends? What did the union contract say? Had the district allowed others to take long-term or short-term leave? How much notice did she give the district?

As far as DOJ getting involved, well sometimes the only people with a big enough stick is the federal government and it does seem clear enough to me that the matter wasn't handled all that well at the school district level.

 

People also get turned down for unpaid leave all the time. It doesn't have to be granted.

To me the main point is that while this might be an obligation, it is required just once in a lifetime. The examples of jury duty or work after a disaster all have an urgency behind them. If the Hajj was required every year or if there was some reason this was the last year the teacher could make it, I would be on her side. As it is, she should get permission prior to the school year or wait for a year that it does not conflict with her work. I'm sure that's what millions of others have done.

 

If the school district had said, we can't do it this year, but we'll make arrangements to do it in the next year or two, I would guess the DOJ wouldn't be down its throat. Under Title VIII the district didn't have to grant the request for the time she wanted it, but it had to make a reasonable accommodation to grant it. It could have reasonably said, we need X amount of notice.

Also under Title VII, the initial burden is on the employer to be reasonable and show why the accommodation would cause undue hardship. This teacher committed no crime or wrong by asking for the leave.