St. Paul, MN – A federal judge has approved a settlement in a discrimination lawsuit involving Mesaba Airlines.
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U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank ruled that $130,000 can be distributed to five people the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said were victims of discrimination.
The lawsuit, which was filed in September 2008, claimed that Mesaba violated the Civil Rights Act when the company terminated customer service agent Laura Vallejos because she refused to work on the Jewish Sabbath.
Mesaba, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, had a policy that prohibited employees from making voluntary shift swaps during their first 90 days of work.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Mesaba’s policy against shift swapping was discriminatory because it led hiring managers to reject job applicants when they expressed a need to attend religious services.
The airline has since changed the policy to allow shift swaps for new employees. In a statement, Mesaba said it is pleased to reach an agreement and looks forward to working with the commission to improve the workplace.
“Mesaba Airlines provides equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment and has a long standing history of being respectful and accommodating to religious beliefs and practices. This agreement is a demonstration of Mesaba’s commitment,” the statement read.
During litigation, the commission also found four Christian applicants who applied for similar jobs but were allegedly rejected because they expressed a desire for their work schedules to allow time to attend Sunday church services. All five people will receive settlement money.
“Employees should not be forced to choose between practicing their faith and keeping or getting a job,” Stuart J. Ishimaru, the commission’s acting chairman, said in a statement.
Good for them! I know a young nurse who is having a hard time finding a hospital job because of Shabbos. Believe it or not it is the Frum Nurse managers who don’t want to hire more frum girls because they have to accommodate Shabbos off for them. It is ridiculous and unfair since many of these young nurses or more than willing to do Sundays because they don’t have children or very young children who don’t know the difference between Sunday or Monday. If the majority of nurses are catholic or working mothers and fathers, why can’t they accomodate Shabbos and give Sunday off to those who really need it?
Maimo has lots of frum nurses
I work in the corporate world and while I would LOVE to hire more frum Jews, but it’s often not a viable option. I need people to cover late Fridays and Yom Tov. I don’t discriminate, but it’s a real issue, even when it comes to delegating to not-yet-frum Jewish coworkers.
As it is, I have met people fairly high up in the airline industry and can honestly say that they are extremely accommodating. I would guess that this is an isolated series of incidents with a regional carrier, but I have seen anything other than discrimination when working with major airlines. No matter where we are in the country, these executives regularly look for kosher options, and have moved meetings on more than one occasion due to early Shabbos and Yom Tov.
As for nurses, I have a family member who had some trouble finding a job as a nurse because she was frum, but it was largely self imposed. She didn’t want to work any shabbos shifts (there may have been heterim) and she didn’t want to work nights. The reality is that someone has to cover, and it’s not easy. For every frum person working on a floor, another nurse must work that many more weekends, which nobody wants.