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Christian Woman Fired from Burger King for Wearing Skirt Instead of Pants

Actually, it means everything, since it was the interviewer who told her that she could wear the skirt. That's not a small thing, the girl did everything right by telling her employer during the interview, and when the employer agreed to it a verbal contract was made.

Maybe. Maybe not. It depends a lot on who did the interviewing.
 

It's as the law states Why is it ridiculous that a law meant to prevent bigotry acts in favor of religious expression.

Though I would say a business should be free to hire or fire anyone they want for any reason. But if we're going to have these laws, then they need to be equally enforced. No use being a partisan hack on the subject.
 
He is probably right. If a Muslim were to do a similar thing there would be accusations that she was trying to impose Sharia law.

Oh, I agree. I'm just saying that my opinion would not be different. That's what I meant by "from my perspective" (obviously a somewhat vague phrase in this context).
 
Frankly, I'm surprised BK doesn't have this covered somehow in the written contract with employees.

That wasn't addressed in the article, but I'll bet they do have it covered in their employment contracts.
 
What other end of the freedom argument? She has the freedom not to work at Burger King and Burger King has the freedom to not employ her if she doesn't want to abide by their dress code. Which they do have like every other chain out there.

Black people have the freedom to not work at a place that doesn't want to hire blacks, eh?
 
Can employers establish dress codes or must they honor religious garb? That's a real question and I'll appreciate anyone who has a FACTUAL answer to enlighten me.
 
They violated federal law.


She was hired, then immediately fired due entirely to her religious beliefs. The interviewer making a mistake is most definitely a cause for punitive action. Try tell a Fire Marshal, or an OSHA inspector that your business is out of regs because the other guy made a mistake.
She was not fired due to her religious beliefs. She was fired becuase she refused to put on the proper uniform. I cant tell you the number of times I have been told one thing by one manager only to be told something entirely different by another. What stands is what is official company policy. In this case it is that all employees wear pants. That is not discriination. This case will go nowhere.
 
She got fired, because she broke dress code. A majority of fast food restraunts have a dress code. A example, at Sonic you have to wear tennie shoes, black pants, and their company shirt and hats. Same with almost every fast-food restraunt I have gone to. Hell, even Chick-Fil-A has one. So, she desevers to get fired.
 
The one who interviewed her said they would accommodate her and let her wear a long skirt. To me that justifies her wearing the skirt and that she shouldn't be fired for wearing what she was told she could wear.
 
Maybe. Maybe not. It depends a lot on who did the interviewing.

Every time I've been interviewed by a fast food franchise, it has been by the store manager. Some of these franchises have two store managers, one for the day shift, one for the night shift, which I suspect is what this store has. Either way, management is management. I was a shift manager for Jack in the Box for some time, and the majority of the training is on complying with federal law, and what will get the store in trouble with the feds and the inspectors. When management ****s up, it's not just the managers name and job on the line, it's the well being of the store as a whole.
 
She was not fired due to her religious beliefs. She was fired becuase she refused to put on the proper uniform. I cant tell you the number of times I have been told one thing by one manager only to be told something entirely different by another. What stands is what is official company policy. In this case it is that all employees wear pants. That is not discriination. This case will go nowhere.

And she couldn't wear the proper uniform due to her religious beliefs, which she explained at the interview, and was fired because of it. That's something management cannot do without facing recourse.
 
Every time I've been interviewed by a fast food franchise, it has been by the store manager. Some of these franchises have two store managers, one for the day shift, one for the night shift, which I suspect is what this store has. Either way, management is management. I was a shift manager for Jack in the Box for some time, and the majority of the training is on complying with federal law, and what will get the store in trouble with the feds and the inspectors. When management ****s up, it's not just the managers name and job on the line, it's the well being of the store as a whole.

Yes and no. Agency law can get complicated. It's certainly possible that a business enterprise might be bound by the representations of its agents (i.e. management). It all depends on the details. You're also making the assumption that this girl dealt with the same situation that you did. Maybe that's true, maybe it's not. Neither of us have the information. Obviously whoever hired this girl would have been smart not to have done so in the first place. It would have saved everyone involved a lot of tsuris.
 
So if the initial interviewer had told her 'no' as to wearing the skirt, would she still have sued?

If the dress code was due to safety reasons then I do not believe she would have a basis for suit as she would not be able to perform due to safty reasons. If it is a simple dress code and the employer said no based upon her religion then I believe she could go forward and sue. Unless it caused undue hardship on the employer(see below)


Because some low level manager believed such an accomodation could be made does not bind BK to making it.
If the manger had the authority to speak for BK yes they could bind the corporation.

I just dont see the religious discrimination here. If someones religious faith told them that they could onlywork Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I refused to hire them would that be religious discimination on my part? There is absolutely no reason why an employer must 'accomodate' every nonsensical mystical belief. He is trying to run a business after all.
An accommodation is not a matter of right in as much as if it is practicable and does not cause undue hardship then those who are subject to these laws must comply.

"The term “religion” includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate to an employee’s or prospective employee’s religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business."

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
 
If there is a good reason for the particular dress code (i.e. safety reasons), then I'm gonna side with Burger King. If not, then I think they should do their best to accommodate the individual.

On the other hand, however, where does one draw the line? My company's dress code is for everyone to wear a blue polo shirt, khaki pants, an undershirt, and dark shoes - that's our uniform (y'all can probably guess where I work). What if it's against my religious beliefs to wear a blue polo? Is the company supposed to accommodate me and allow me to wear a purple polo instead? Or am I being unreasonable and if I can't follow company policy i should simply work somewhere else?
 
If she's a pentecostal then WHY is she working there to begin with?

Ok - that's not allowed - she should never have applied. I was raise Pente - no no!!

I don't understand this... Pentecostals can't work in fast food joints?
 
Black people have the freedom to not work at a place that doesn't want to hire blacks, eh?

Black people can't do anything about their color. Religion is a personal choice. Please try and compare that homosexuality. I dare you. :)
 
I don't understand this... Pentecostals can't work in fast food joints?


I don't know. All I know there are dress codes to be respected.


PC is not going to prevail. Period.
 
I don't know. All I know there are dress codes to be respected.

PC is not going to prevail. Period.

It's fun to watch all the conservatives who rail about PC going crazy - trying to be PC now. :shrug:
 
I don't understand this... Pentecostals can't work in fast food joints?

Yes they can as she demonstrated by applying and showing up for the job......
 
Black people can't do anything about their color. Religion is a personal choice. Please try and compare that homosexuality. I dare you. :)

What are you talking about, Michael Jackson turned white.

Besides, a belief is a strong thing and I don't think that we should really punish religious expression without good cause. Particularly if we're gonna run around and protect everyone else.
 
Yes they can as she demonstrated by applying and showing up for the job......

No Aunt Spiker said they couldn't so I'm confused. Can they? Or can't they?
 
I honestly don't understand nonsense like this. I wear tattoos and have earrings. My bosses all know this. They chose to hire me KNOWING I have those things. If they had rejected me - I would have gone elsewhere. I'd still think they're assholes for judging me on the basis of those things but I wouldn't have sued them for something which was my choice. Now if this girl had been told to not work because of her religion - I'd agree. But she wasn't. She was told not to work because she did not abide by the dress code. Which has nothing to do with religion but professionalism - JUST like my earrings. If she had been fired for being white/black/green/gay/tall/fat etc, I'd be 100% behind her. But she wasn't. She was told not to work because she thought her religion exempted her from the rules everyone else has to follow. I can't say I feel sorry for her.

it pains me to say it but I agree with Hatuey. A job has a dress code, you abide by it. If your religion forbids you to wear pants, then don't try to work at a place that requires pants.
 
What are you talking about, Michael Jackson turned white.

Besides, a belief is a strong thing and I don't think that we should really punish religious expression without good cause. Particularly if we're gonna run around and protect everyone else.

Oh whatever the hell ever. A religious belief is an arbitrarily picked out bunch of nonsense people adhere to simply because they want to get into their own version of Oz. You can have it. You just don't get to change the rules everyone else has to do abide by because of that belief. Or are we only going to defend religious belief from now on? How about this. I'll start a new religion that discriminates against every other religion. When christians, jews, muslims etc come and apply for a job at my privately run company - I'll turn them down because of MY religious beliefs. How does that sound?
 
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