Stop Solicitations at Work

When co-workers make the rounds at work soliciting for the church fundraiser, let your Human Resources department know that you prefer not to be solicited at work. Hopefully you can do this anonymously through company email or some other means. Give specifics as to who is doing the soliciting and the religious nature of it.

• Be familiar with the laws pertaining to religion in the workplace.
• Learn from this man's experience:

Plaintiff, an executive housekeeper of a newly opened hotel, attended a meeting with the manager of the hotel at which they were to receive free copies of the Bible from the Gideons to be placed in the hotel rooms. When the Gideons unexpectedly starting reading from the Bible and praying, plaintiff left in the middle of the meeting, to the manager's chagrin. When the manager told plaintiff, "Don't do that again, you embarrassed me" plaintiff replied that he could not be compelled to be at a religious event. The manager replied that plaintiff would do what he was told to do. When plaintiff responded, "Oh, hell no . . . not when it comes to my spirituality," the manager fired plaintiff for insubordination. Held, plaintiff failed to make a prima facie case of intentional religious discrimination. The manager fired plaintiff because plaintiff’s sudden departure from the meeting embarrassed the manager and might have jeopardized the supply of free Bibles, and because plaintiff’s refusal to see the manager's point of view indicated that he was unlikely to be a cooperative employee. There was no evidence of hostility to plaintiff’s religious beliefs or lack of beliefs because plaintiff steadfastly refused to indicate what exactly were his beliefs. Nor did plaintiff establish a claim for failure to accommodate. Plaintiff simply asserted an unqualified right to disobey orders that he deemed inconsistent with his faith though he refused to indicate what were his religious beliefs and at what points those beliefs would intersect with the requirements of his job. Finally, the court divided on whether plaintiff’s religious discrimination claim was frivolous or not and whether plaintiff was subject to sanctions (7th Cir. 2003)