Religious Accommodations: Woman Fired for Eating Bacon at Work

Here is an interesting article about religious accommodations in the workplace.

A Central Florida woman was fired from her job after eating "unclean" meat and violating a reported company policy that pork and pork products are not permissible on company premises[.] Lina Morales was hired as an administrative assistant at Rising Star -- a Central Florida telecommunications company with strong Muslim ties[.] However, 10 months after being hired by Rising Star, religious differences led to her termination. Morales, who is Catholic, was warned about eating pizza with meat the Muslim faith considered "unclean”[.] She was then fired for eating a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, according to the report.

Evidently, Morales was fired “for refusing to comply with company policy that pork and pork products are not permissible on company premises.”

According to Morales’s lawyer, her firing is “just un-American. . . . It’s a classic case of religious discrimination[.] They have not articulated a single reason other than [a] religious reason behind the policy.”

Putting aside the legal merits of this particular case, the more question I would pose is, “why should ‘they’ have to articulate a ‘single reason other than a religious reason’”? What would be so wrong – so “un-American” – with a regime that permitted Muslim-owned or Muslim-related businesses to require employees – Muslim or not – to respect Muslim dietary laws?

Rick