KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund are praising a ruling by a federal district court in favor of a Christian librarian who was fired after she requested to have Sundays off because of her religious beliefs. A jury awarded the librarian damages for back pay.
“This ruling is very important in making sure that people of faith are not treated as second-class citizens,” said ADF Litigation Counsel David LaPlante. “Employers have a responsibility to respect the religious beliefs of their employees and to make reasonable accommodations. This decision, along with the award of monetary compensation to the Christian librarian who lost her job, is very encouraging.”
ADF and the Christian Law Association together filed the case,
Rehm v. Rolling Hills Consolidated Library, in August 2004 (
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=2776). In May of 2003, librarian Constance Rehm was fired after refusing to work on Sunday because of her religious beliefs. According to Title VII of the Federal Civil Rights Act, an employee’s request for accommodation based upon a sincere religious belief can only be denied if the employer can demonstrate that the request would cause undue hardship.
“Not only did the library fail to make its case for denying this librarian’s request, library officials crossed the line in firing her for insubordination,” said LaPlante. “The library should not require an employee to violate her conscience, effectively forcing her to choose between her religious beliefs and her job.”
A copy of the trial minutes from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, St. Joseph Division, can be read at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/RehmMinutes.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
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