An article in the Dallas Morning News notes that the US Justice Department is filing suit for religious discrimination on behalf of a Moslem teacher.
The immediate reaction is, depending on your point of view, either distain or joy.
As I read the article, my response was: How stupid.
According to the article, a Moslem who is a math teacher in a public school system requested a 3-week unpaid leave-of-absence to travel to Mecca to make hajj, a once-in-a-lifetime requirement for all observant Muslims.
The article continued that "The district denied (the teacher's) request twice because it did not meet the requirements specified by the union contract."
The teacher complained to the EEOC; the EEOC declined to act on the complaint.
The teacher resigned.
Somewhere along the way the Justice Department involved itself and filed a civil rights suit on the teacher's behalf against the school district.
My wife is a school teacher. She recently took a six-week unpaid leave of absence from her job. The school actually saved some money since substitutes are paid less than full-time teachers.
Question: Why are the feds attacking the school district? The problem seems to lie with the union; remember: "requirements specified by the union contract."
I am assuming the hajj must be performed during a specific time frame, one that falls within the normal (American) school year, so the event could not be postponed until summer vacation.
On the other hand, the once-in-a-lifetime event can be performed during any year, so the teacher might have (a) taken a year-long leave-of-absence or (b) deferred the trip until after retirement. I can fully understand not wanting to defer a trip since no one knows how long they will live, and I can sympathize not wanting to take a year-long sabbatical since the job may not be there on the teacher's return. (How long had the teacher been in the system; what was the teacher's record; what are the union rules, and more all play into the de4cision.)
The teacher elected to resign rather than forego the trip. Just as an observant Jew would resign if an employer insisted the Jew work on Yom Kippor. There are other employers and other school districts . . . both public and private.
There is no reason for the feds to get involved in this, certainly not against the school district that abided by a union contract. This is not a matter of "religious discrimination" as much as union short-sightedness or an unwillingness on both the district and the union to be flexible.
If the teacher was a good teacher, it is unfortunate the teacher resigned.
But to make a federal case of this seems a waste of taxpayer dollars while opening a huge Pandora's box.
