Thursday, October 17, 2013

Religious Discrimination Proves its Resurgence in a Chicken Restaurant

Katie Vormittag

As I read about how race and employment is directly correlated in Charles A. Gallagher’s Rethinking the Color Line, one particular section seemed very familiar to me. In the section by Waldinger, he not only chronicled how race can affect employment opportunities but also how religious discrimination is prevalent in many workplace cases as well. One example that has come up recently is the case against Chick Fil-A and their treatment of workers and potential employees. The company is known for being a Christian-based organization and has outwardly claimed their views on homosexuality as well as other religions. There have been various other stories about sexual harassment cases in certain restaurants as well as harassment involving discrimination against women. However, the one that made the most headlines was the story about their Christian views and how they openly discriminate against other religions. According to Forbes Magazine, an example of discrimination involved an employee who refused to take part in a group prayer directed towards Jesus Christ because the employee was Muslim. The following day the employee was fired and he sued the company (Sturgis, 2012). This is just one of “at least a dozen times” that this company has been sued for discrimination and harassment (Sturgis, 2012). In addition to firing those that do not partake in Christian acts, Chick Fil-A also grills applicants about their participation in their community such as in their local church and other charitable organizations. Although asking questions based on religion is not against the law, choosing to hire the applicant based on their answers is illegal. Chick Fil-A has proven to disregard these laws and act in an immoral way stemming from their devoutly Christian Chief Operating Officer Dan Cathy. Unfortunately this happens all too often, although the fast food restaurant case has been the most talked about. There are a lot of situations that we never hear about because either the victim doesn’t sue or because the company does everything in its power to keep it quiet. In any case, this Chick Fil-A case is one that proves that religious discrimination in the workplace is very much still current in today’s society. In the article by Waldinger, discrimination against the Jews was noted as he describes their struggles to find work in large corporations such as banks and lawyers’ offices. Although the discrimination he speaks of occurred during the early 20th century, the basis of the discrimination is the same as the current issue I mentioned. It is against the law to hire or fire based on religion; however, this was not the law in the 1920s when the Jews were persecuted in the workplace in New York. That is the only difference between each situation. The laws try to prevent religious-based decisions, but there are ways for companies to get around these prejudiced views. As much as we may think that our society has moved closer towards racial and religious equality, there are cases like the chicken restaurant that proves to us that prejudice is present in the 21st century.
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By Robert Ottinger

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