A Berkeley, IL Muslim woman has won her fight against a west suburban school district after being denied unpaid leave to go on a religious pilgrimage to Mecca. (This should serve as yet another warning to all schools and businesses: NEVER HIRE A MUSLIM)
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From the Chicago Sun-Times:
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced it settled Safoorah Khan’s religious discrimination lawsuit against the Berkeley School District, forcing the district to pay $75,000 in lost back pay, compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees.
According to the settlement, the district must also provide mandatory training on MUSLIM religious accommodations to all board of education members and school supervisors.
The district also will have to develop a policy accommodating religions consistent with the Civil Rights Acts to ensure something similar will not happen again.
Khan, a teacher at MacArthur Middle School, requested an unpaid leave of absence in December 2008 to perform hajj – a pilgrimage required by Islam – but was told she had to choose between her job and her religious beliefs. She resigned.
“I’m glad that we settled and I hope this does set a precedent,” Khan said. “I hope they realize that hajj means a lot to Muslims and there will be more and more people taking the trip. I hope this helps people and their employers to accommodate Muslims and their requests.”
Khan, now 30, says she went to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the year she resigned. “It’s required once in our lifetime at the earliest opportunity you can get,” she said.
darcprynce
Dave C
Gatordoug
She was never, “told to choose between her job and her religious beliefs.” This is an outright fabrication. The truth of the matter is that Muslims are required to make the pilgrimage if they are able, but there is no requirement to do it as early in life as possible.
Since the Islamic calendar is lunar, Muslim events cycle through the year. The Hajj was in December on the year she decided to attend, but if she’d been willing to wait, she could easily have made her pilgrimage at a time when school was not in session.
There was no requirement that she make her pilgrimage when she did, neither that particular year, nor that time of year. This was a manufactured crisis.
Also missing from the quoted article was the fact that she had been teaching in that job for only a short time. She had not been employed long enough to expect the privilege of extra time off. If she knew she was going to have to make the Hajj during the school year, she should have disclosed that before she was hired. The article also failed to mention that the time she requested to make her pilgrimage was in excess of what was necessary.
This entire case was a put-up job by CAIR, and it’s disgusting to see our government cave in to them.