Legal News

On Law and the Hajj: A Battle in Illinois Stirs Controversy

By Ashby Jones

A question: How far must employers go to accommodate workers’ religious practices?

A recent lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice is casting the question into sharp relief.

The facts, according to this recent story in the Washington Post, are interesting. A Muslim middle school teacher in a small Chicago suburb had been on the job for only nine months when she requested three weeks off so she could travel to Mecca for a pilgrimage.

The school district, “faced with losing its only math lab instructor during the end-of-semester marking period,” denied the request. The woman, Safoorah Khan, resigned and went anyway.

The next chapter in the story is intriguing. After Khan filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Justice Department filed suit on her behalf, claiming that the school district’s decision amounted to discrimination. The suit alleged the district violated her civil rights. Click here for the complaint, filed back in December in Chicago federal court.

As perhaps expected, the filing of the suit has garnered attention, with some feeling that the move was more political than legal, in line with the Obama administration’s efforts to reach out to Muslims.

“It sounds like a very dubious judgment and a real legal reach,” said Michael Mukasey, who was attorney general during the George W. Bush administration, to the paper.

But officials in the current Justice Department say they are upholding a sacred principle – the right of every American to be free of religious bias in the workplace.

“This was a profoundly personal request by a person of faith,” said Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights, who compared the case to protecting “the religious liberty that our forefathers came to this country for.”

LBers, any thoughts?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 25, 2011 (boomark / email).