AJC Amicus Brief Supports Workplace Religious Freedom
April 16, 2007 - New York - The American Jewish Committee today filed an amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, advocating that employers should be required to accommodate the religious beliefs of employees when those beliefs conflict with workday responsibilities.
"AJC has long been a champion of religious liberty in the workplace," said Jeffrey Sinensky, AJC's general counsel. "We are devoted to ensuring that no employee should be forced to choose between obedience to his or her faith and keeping a job."
The case, Todd Sturgill v. United Parcel Service, Inc., involves a Seventh-Day Adventist who was fired from his job as a UPS driver. After months of formal requests for religious accommodation for his traditional Sabbath observance, Sturgill was dismissed when he returned to the UPS facility on a Friday afternoon without completing his delivery of packages.
AJC filed the brief with a coalition of groups supporting religious freedom in the workplace, including the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, the Islamic Supreme Council of America, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Sikh American Legal Defense & Education Fund, and the Union of Reform Judaism.
AJC's leading role in protecting religious freedom in the workplace includes its efforts to pass the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, which would strengthen the religious accommodation principles of existing civil rights law.
Ari M. Gordon Assistant Director Department of Interreligious Affairs American Jewish Committee 165 E56th St. New York, NY 10022 (212) 891-6768 (212) 751-4000 x266 www.ajc.org www.engagingamerica.org