French summer camp workers sacked over Ramadan fast

[financeguy]

Paris: France’s main Muslim body yesterday angrily condemned a town council’s decision to sack four summer camp workers for fasting during Ramadan as “arbitrary and discriminatory.”


The four workers, who had been employed temporarily by the town of Genevilliers in the Paris suburbs to help run a sports camp in southwestern France, were dismissed on July 20, the first day of Ramadan, after being told they were endangering children’s safety by not eating or drinking between dawn and dusk.


They are now planning to contest their dismissal through France’s labour courts and the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) said Tuesday it was considering suing Genevilliers council for discrimination.


In a statement, the Communist mayor of Genevilliers defended the decision to suspend the employees on health and safety grounds after an official who visited the camp noticed that they were not eating or drinking at lunchtime.

French summer camp workers sacked over Ramadan fast | GulfNews.com

[Moonlit_Angel]

Nicole Varet, an aide to the mayor, said the decision to dismiss the four employees had been influenced by an incident three years ago in which a fasting camp worker had been taken ill whilst driving, resulting in an accident in which a child was seriously injured.

Are they sure the fasting was what led to that, I wonder? Did the worker have any other health issues that may not have been detected or something?

It seems that many people who've done this over the years seem to have been able to get on just fine and go through their days without incident. If they were making the children fast with them, that'd be one thing and I would understand them being fired in that case.

But if they alone decide to not eat or drink, then that's their choice. If it can be proven that their fasting is leading to them making poor choices, then one can remove them, but until then, if they seem to be able to continue working at a good rate despite not eating or drinking anything, leave them alone, I'd say.

[AchtungBono]

^

[anitram]

Didn't Hakeem Olajuwon routinely play in the NBA during the Ramadan fast? And performed remarkably well?

Headache or one of the other sports guys to the rescue, hopefully...

[PhilsFan]

I think he was Player of the Month during Ramadan during one of the years he won the title, either 1994 or 1995.

[Pearl]

I wonder how the Muslim Olympians are holding up. I heard some are fasting now while others are going to wait until after the Olympics are over.

[Pearl]

Here's an interesting article on Muslims observing Ramadan near the Arctic Circle - where the sun sets at around 11pm and rises at 3am!

Ramadan 2012: Short Arctic Night A Challenge For Fasting Muslims

[ladyfreckles]

Fasting only causes problems if you have low blood sugar. I don't trust myself to drive at all if I haven't eaten in several hours.