No Pork For You!

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Me too. :reject:

It's interesting, though. Clearly she shouldn't have been fired, but I might feel differently if it had been written in her contract.
 
ThatGuy said:
Me too. :reject:

It's interesting, though. Clearly she shouldn't have been fired, but I might feel differently if it had been written in her contract.

I agree. I went to Catholic high school which meant we ate fish, grilled cheese or macaroni on fridays, no matter what religion we were. That was part of the deal and it was fine. But if this is going to be something someone can get fired over, it should not be an unwritten rule.
 
ThatGuy said:
Me too. :reject:

It's interesting, though. Clearly she shouldn't have been fired, but I might feel differently if it had been written in her contract.

Sorry to disappoint. Pork barrel politics make me sick :barf:


How far can we limit/control an employee's behavior through contract?


Also, for sake of argument, if an employer goes to court to enforce the contract, does government involvement violate the establishment clause?
 
I don't think any employer should force their religious beliefs that have nothing to do with the work being done on their employee. It's ridiculous.
 
Every employer has codes of conduct, dress codes, etc. This is really just an extension of that. If it's in the employee's contract, and the employee signs it to agree to live by it, then it's only the employee's fault if they are terminated for a violation of that contract.

I am onviously not a lawyer, but I imagine that if an employer goes to court to enforce that contract he could argue that the employee waived their rights when they signed the contract.
 
Yes, but these codes have a reason. Best Buy employees where blue shirts because that's the corporation color, customer service employees have a certain code of conduct because it makes for good business, codes against dating within the company are set up so to keep employees focused on their work etc. But not eating pork doesn't effect business in any way. It's like if a Jehovah Witness boss said you can't have Christmas off because he didn't believe in holidays.
 
But if it's in the contract then you know what you're getting when you're hired on. If that's not your bag then move on to another job. Like Catholic healthcare organizations that won't pay for employees' birth control. I agree that it has room for abuse, but there is a balance that can be struck between freedom of religion and freedom from religion.
 
I know a girl that was up for a job with a Christian based women's health clinic and it said in her contract she could not tell the women about any forms of birth control or safer sex methods that she was ONLY to talk about abstaining. So, she had to turn the job down because it didnt fit with her own personal beliefs.
 
I think this is completely ridiculous. I don't care if it is a company with strong Muslim ties, its not a Muslim country and they, being the Islamic dung-headed executives, should respect that.

Absolutely outrageous.

Ant.
 
Islamic dung-headed executives....

please tell me I am taking this out of context and the way I am taking it is not the way you intended it....please.
 
ThatGuy said:
But if it's in the contract then you know what you're getting when you're hired on. If that's not your bag then move on to another job. Like Catholic healthcare organizations that won't pay for employees' birth control. I agree that it has room for abuse, but there is a balance that can be struck between freedom of religion and freedom from religion.

I agree, but I'm saying no one should legally be able to place such restrictions in the contract in the first place.
 
Lovetown;

If the way you think I meant it was that the quality of being a dung-head is attributed to Muslims, then you are taking it out of context. If the way you think I meant it was that these particular executives who fired a woman who may well have needed her job simply because she ate something that they did not like are stupid to a degree that only a person who has dung for brains, then you would be correct.

I should explain my situation further. I have spent most of my life in Islamic countries, and the way some Islamic countries have reacted to the rights of those who aren't muslim is, at times, arguable. In London you will very often see mosques, and there are indeed many of these, but in some islamic countries you will be hard pressed to find any churches. Personally, I have never sat well with one country respecting the rights of what is a religious minority when the countries of members of such a minority are nowhere near as tolerant. That aside, the fact that this company, which isn't even altogether Muslim, but has 'islamic ties', can have the freedom to fire someone merely by what they eat, is, in my opinion, preposterous. How on Earth does what one woman eat affect the sanctity of a muslim's soul? It does not. Ultimately, because it boils down to the same argument for many, and I do mean many, it comes down to the country you're living in.

That she was fired for eating Pork in America, the Land of the Free, is a farce worthy of the Python troupe. Notice how such exectuives are not adverse to doing business with people who drink alcohol and other such non-islamic habits. It all boils down to the same thing; the conflict of established interests.

Ant.
 
Ok Anthony, Im really glad you cleared that up for me. I feel lots better about it!

As far as the issue goes, the only thing I can think that would somewhat justify the stance of the company is that perhaps her meat may have touched something that touched food that somebody else was going to eat. I know that some very strict Jewish guidelines say that different dishes must be used for different kinds of food because if they crossed each other it would make them non Kosher. I don't know if that is a principle in the Muslim faith too.

I tend to lean towards this as being a horrible situation in which the woman should not have been fired but I don't know all the details.
 
ThatGuy said:
Every employer has codes of conduct, dress codes, etc. This is really just an extension of that. If it's in the employee's contract, and the employee signs it to agree to live by it, then it's only the employee's fault if they are terminated for a violation of that contract.

I am onviously not a lawyer, but I imagine that if an employer goes to court to enforce that contract he could argue that the employee waived their rights when they signed the contract.

That's the thing. It never was in the contract at all. Unfair dismissal.
 
Lovetown;

I'm glad to have been taken within context, though it is true that years living in Islamic country has not made me more tolerant, it has made me less. That is unfortunate.

It is true that the Jewish kosher laws are particularly strict, I myself have a Jewish friend, and, when I hold a dinner, I make it my goal to cook meals in different ovens, because the slightest oil or fat or even the fumes of pork should not taint what is going to be eaten by him. It is troublesome, and I daresay irritating, and I was quite annoyed when he started up a stink when he was asked to take his hat off at the Sacre Coeur in Paris, but I respect that tradition. However, I don't think pig fat is going to course out of her and splash onto her office documents at work. If they can believe that, well then, its amazing that they own the business.

I find the whole thing ludicrous, personally, and more than a little irritating.

Ant.
 
Anthony,

Like I said, I tend to agree with you. I'd just like more of the story to come out before I completely pick a stance.

By the way, thanks for using the example of your friend. You clearly illustrated a point that I was trying to make about strict religous diets.
 
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DaveC said:


That's the thing. It never was in the contract at all. Unfair dismissal.

I know. I said as much upthread.

ThatGuy said:

It's interesting, though. Clearly she shouldn't have been fired, but I might feel differently if it had been written in her contract.
 
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