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.
By Robert Ottinger
No comments:
Post a Comment