Seven Muslim factory workers were fired and 14 others resigned over a Wisconsin company’s new prayer guidelines, executives said Wednesday.
Fifty-three Somali immigrant employees protested Ariens Company’s revoking of their two extra five-minute prayer breaks per day last month.
Yet 32 of them have decided to remain with the Green Bay-area maker of
snowblowers and lawnmowers under the new policy, said company
spokeswoman Ann Stilp.
Former Ariens painter Ibrahim Mehemmed told WBAY-TV last month that he got a pink slip because he said he couldn’t pray during his lunch break.
“We pray by the time,” Mehemmed said. “So they say if you guys don’t
pray at the break time, they give us this paper to just leave.”
Company executives have said they shifted the guidelines as the ranks
of Muslim workers at the Brillion complex grew to between 30 and 40
workers, causing “unscheduled breaks in production” starting in October
and November.
The manufacturer asked the workers to restrict their worship to
scheduled lulls in the workday. The seven workers who were fired kept
taking the extra breaks anyway, Ariens said in a statement.
“Recognizing there are language barriers and cultural differences, we
allowed for extra time,” Ariens said. “We would have liked for more of
the employees to stay, however, we respect their faith, we respect the
work they have done for Ariens Company and we respect their decisions.”
Local Muslims and the Council of American-Islamic Relations had called
for the company to accommodate the previously allowed extra breaks.
CAIR’s spokesman said Ariens could find common ground with the workers
out of “respect for constitutionally-protected religious rights and for
the legitimate needs of both employees and employers.”
Representatives for CAIR didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to a
request for comment on the firings and resignations and possible next
steps. The organization is also representing nearly 200 former employees
of a Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Colorado it said were fired in a
similar dispute.
Observant Muslims pray five times a day, and CAIR has published a guide for employers on how workplaces may adapt for staff who worship. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules
state employers “must reasonably accommodate” religious practices that
don’t pose “an undue hardship on the employer's operation of its business.”
Green Bay Masjid Imam Hasan Abdi told WBAY last month that Ariens’ new
policy would make it impossible for many workers to pray.
“If they get fired now, there’s no way they can stay in Green Bay,” Abdi said. “They have to move.”
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