Muslim dilemma

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-20-03 AT 11:40AM (CST)[/font][br][br]1)Is anyone familiar with Islamic holidays? We have an employee who said that she needed a day off but that she wasn't sure which day yet because it depended on the moon. I thought that the moon and its phases and position were predictable and that an astronomer could schedule the upcoming full moons indefinitely. Her alleged uncertainty moves the holiday from a Wednesday, her normal day off, to a working day, which she wants off.

2) Same employee has requested schedule adjustments for Ramadan because she is fasting during the day and wanted break right at sundown so she could eat. We have accomodated though it has inconvenienced her co-workers. Her co-workers are angry because they have seen her regularly in the break room eating during the day. Co-workers believe that she is manipulating the schedule to accomodate dates with her boyfriend.

3) Same employee has asked co-workers to lie to her parents about her whereabouts, because they don't know about the boyfriend, and she is seeing him but has told her parents she is working late. Co-workers were asked to tell parents she is in meetings. She is a supervisor.
Any answers or advice would be greatly appreciated. We probably have enough to fire her without touching any of the above, so I think we will wait until after the holiday and let her go. For example, she was found sleeping on the job.

Comments

  • 11 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Your 2nd and 3rd points say a lot about her. Not sure of the Muslim holiday in question, but I have done searches in the past on the internet to learn more about the Muslims to help me make better decisions. We have 2 Muslim ee's, one of whom does follow her beliefs strictly. The only concessions she has asked for and we have granted have occured during Ramadan - we allow her to come in earlier and leave earlier wear her Muslim dress rather than her "normal" street clothes.

    But, if your ee has been observed breaking the fast during the day and has asked coworkers to lie about her whereabouts, she obviously doesn't take her faith very seriously. Sounds like she is taking advantage of you.
  • [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-20-03 AT 11:38AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Can't be very much help with the holiday thing. I remember reading about an Islamic celebration that is dependent on the 1st sighting (world wide)of the full moon. I don't recall which holiday it was.

    On the other subject, after appropriate investigation, if she has requested employees to lie for her and she is a supervisor; out the door she should go. Absolutely unacceptable behavior.

    As always document, document, document.
  • [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-20-03 AT 11:39AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Sounds like you will have to take a refresher course in Muslim. Here you go:
    [url]http://www.soundvision.com/info/muslimholidays/default.asp[/url]

    If she is not following them and she only wants them at her convienence I might not be inclined to grant the requests. The dates do change every year which can make it challenging. Based on lunar calendar, so the date moves 11 days a year.
    My $0.02 worth.
    DJ The Balloonman
  • Why sweat the small stuff. Yes, you could question how sincere she was in her religious beliefs but take the easy route. Get her for sleeping on the job and things like that.
  • I'll take the safe approach and suggest that we cannot base a religious accommodation decision on how serious we feel the employee is about her religious principles. Consider her attorney asking you this, "If you know absolutely nothing about the religious holidays or their observation, how then can you judge or base your decisions on how closely you feel she follows the tenets of her religion?"
  • Why would you want to accomodate this employee? She's handed you the means to remove her for performance. Of course you can and should continue to accomodate her while you waltz her out the door.
  • On the surface, Don is correct. But, before any decision is made, it would be wise to research the supposed beliefs of this ee and be prepared to make an informed decision. Which is what the orginal poster appears to be doing. We can't put ourselves into the position of judging how well a person adheres to the tenets of their faith. But, I think we can make a judgment on whether or not the religious request for accomodation is bona fide. But, as others have said, in this case, fire the supervisor for any one of the other infractions.
  • According to my sister-in-law, who is Turkish and Muslim, the new moon must actually be sighted for Ramadan to begin. However, there should at most be 1-2 days of uncertainty about this.

    The fasting rules of Ramadan dictate that nothing should pass the lips from sunrise to sunset. Nothing to eat or drink, not even smoking a cigarette. This is obviously harder to do during the summer months--Ramadan does move through the calendar. I was in Turkey in December of 1999 for Christmas and people were observing Ramadan. But they make exceptions for those who aren't Muslim--I was staying with my sister-in-law's parents and was fully prepared not to eat in their house until sunset, but her mother stuffed me with food. I would address the break issue by moving her break time to sunset. Then she would have no time to be in the break room earlier in the day eating. People do break their fast right at sunset--the entire family was gathered around the television, which showed gentle pictures of nature and wildlife, and had a little clock in the lower right-hand corner ticking off the minutes until they could eat. All the while, incredibly appetizing aromas were wafting from the kitchen. I have to admire their will-power.

    The part about asking others to lie for her-document it and discipline.

    The part about sleeping on the job--document and discipline.

    You don't really have to deal with the observation of her religion at all--is she taking too much time on her breaks? asking others to lie for her? sleeping on the job? That's all you have to deal with. And it should be enough.

  • You found her sleeping on the job. Fire her. End of discussion, save the holiday pay.
    My $0.02 worth.
    DJ The Balloonman
  • Camlan; thanks for sharing your memory. I knew nothing of it and appreciate your colorful walkthru.
  • I'm in agreement with those that say continue with the religious accommodations regardless of her committment to her faith.

    However, the much bigger issue is the asking subordinates to lie for her and sleeping on the job.

    Depending on your policies and what they call for as discipline for the above I would conduct an investigation based on the complaints of the associates reporting to her, gather written statements, check any available video cameras for sleeping or collect statements from those that caught her sleeping. Then swift action is better than delayed action. I have always been told by our labor attorneys that we should not make decisions based on the convenience of the Company. If it's a serious enough infraction to warrant separation the separation should occur when the facts are known. If we hold off for 6 weeks to allow the holidays to pass we're basicially saying it really wasn't all that serious or detrimental to her job performance.

    A supervisor with this type of behavior must have lost all credibility with her subordinates. As soon as she asked them to lie for her she was done as an effective leader.

    gb
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