Montreal, Canada – Tribunal Awards Woman $2,059 for Being Forced to Work 2 Days of Rosh Hashanah

Montreal, Canada – A Jewish immigrant who said she felt “quite lost and confused” after the “emotionally draining” experience of being denied time off work for the Jewish New Year has been awarded $2,059 in moral damages by Quebec’s Human Rights Tribunal.

But the tribunal denied her $6,000 she claimed in lost wages, because she couldn’t prove she’d been fired for refusing to come to work during the holiday.

Daniela Strauber, who is originally from Romania, worked at La Garderie éducative Le Futur de nos enfants, a north-end Montreal daycare centre, for almost nine months in 2003 and 2004, replacing a worker who was on maternity leave.

In August 2004, three weeks ahead of Rosh Hashanah, she asked her employer for two days off without pay to mark the start of the holiday, according to the decision rendered by tribunal judge Pierre E. Audet.

Another Jewish worker, Mery Bernoualid, also asked for the start of the 10-day holiday off – like Strauber, without pay.

The 14-year-old Jarry St. W. centre employed nine people at the time, caring for 80 children age 18 months to four years.

During the first two days of Rosh Hashanah, observant Jews are not allowed to work, turn lights on or off, or drive a car, Rabbi David Bitton testified on the case – after many attempts to settle out of court – was heard.

All her adult life, Strauber had never worked on Rosh Hashanah, and she didn’t intend to start in Canada, where religious observance is guaranteed under the Charter of Rights.
“For me,” she told the tribunal, “not to be able to celebrate this holiday was not even a matter of talking.”

At first, the centre’s administrator, Evangelia Kalogrias, told the two women she’d try to accommodate them. Three weeks later, however, she said she couldn’t find anyone to replace them. As a compromise, she offered each of them one day off, instead of two.
Bernoualid accepted; Strauber refused, prompting her boss to threaten to suspend her without pay for three days.

Strauber said she was forced to quit after that; her boss said she resigned voluntarily.

Audet’s judgment criticized Strauber for being “emotional and intransigent,” but said the onus was on her boss to accommodate her.

After she left the daycare, Strauber contacted the Canadian Jewish Congress, which got the centre to pay her two weeks’ salary and vacation pay. A month later, she found work at another daycare.
Strauber now lives in Victoria.