Sabbath-Keeper Wins Discrimination Lawsuit
Denver, Colorado, United States .... [Bettina Krause/ANN]
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A United States federal jury has awarded $2.25 million to a man fired
by the Federal Aviation Administration for refusing to work on Sabbath,
or Saturday.  Don Reed was the victim of religious discrimination, said
the Denver jury, rejecting the FAA's argument that accommodation of
Reed's beliefs would have left the agency dangerously short-staffed.

Reed, a nondenominational Sabbath-keeper, observes a day of rest from
sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.  An FAA employee since 1990, Reed
says his Sabbath-keeping was accommodated by two successive managers. 
In 1995, however, a new manager called Reed's belief a "scam" and a
"religion of convenience," firing Reed after he failed to show for work
on six Saturdays.   

Mitchell Tyner, an associate general counsel for the Adventist Church
worldwide, welcomed the jury's verdict, saying that employees should
rarely be forced to choose between their faith and their job, and only
then when accommodation would cause genuine hardship to the employer.

Each year, Tyner participates in as many as 30 lawsuits involving
on-the-job religious discrimination--usually related to
Sabbath-keeping. He says the scope of the problem is much larger than
most people realize.  

Every day, on average, two or three Adventist Church members in the
United States lose their jobs or are denied jobs because employers will
not accommodate Sabbath observance, says Tyner.

"Free exercise of religion is a fundamental legal principle," Tyner
adds. "But in practice, legal protection for people of faith in the
workplace is simply not adequate."  

He cautions that even when an employee wins a jury verdict, employment
cases have the second highest reversal rate of any type of case, and
that large damage awards are often subject to remittiture, or
subsequent reduction by the court.  

Tyner, who has twice litigated religious discrimination cases against
the FAA, says the Adventist Church will file an amicus brief in support
of Reed should the FAA appeal the outcome of the case.

ANN World News Bulletin is a review of news and information issued by
the Communication department from the Seventh-day Adventist Church
World Headquarters and released as part of the service of Adventist
News Network. It is made available primarily to religious news editors.
Our news includes dispatches from the church's international offices
and the world headquarters.  The information provided in the Bulletin 
may be reproduced without permission providing that the source 
"Adventist News Network" is acknowledged. 

ANN Staff: Ray Dabrowski, director; 
Bettina Krause, news director; 
Ansel Oliver, editorial assistant. 
Copyright Adventist News Network 2001.