Worker: I was fired for being a good Catholic
October 23, 2008 by Fred HosierPosted in: Here comes the judge, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
A former deli worker is suing Wal-Mart. He says he was wrongly fired from a Sam’s Club store for simply being a good Catholic.
John F. Kennedy (yes, that’s his real name) says the store in Latham, NY, reneged on an agreement to allow him to have every Sunday off so he could attend Mass.
The suit says Kennedy complained to managers when he was scheduled to work on Sundays and was terminated because of his complaints.
Kennedy says the store violated his civil and religious rights.
His attorney told The Times Union that Kennedy is seeking $1 million because the “lawsuit needs to be a number that’s gonna catch their eye and concede to wrongdoing and maybe try to resolve this.”
Tags: fired, lawsuit, religious rights, Wal-Mart
October 24th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I understand wanting to attend mass every Sunday that is fine, but why couldn’t he be scheduled for the afternoon shift on a Sunday, that wouldn’t affect his ability to attend mass at all. Also I think the amount is excessive and ridiculous. There are way too many people out there trying to make a quick and easy dollar.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:20 am
In my area, there are masses on Saturday night and starting 6AM on Sunday morning. Surely he could have attended mass and worked, thus providing a win-win situation. There are other issues in this case that we aren’t getting.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Not necessarily, there are employees out there that cry discrimination over the littlest thing so they can make a quick buck. And looking at the amount that this guy is suing for that is very probably the case.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:51 am
A recently read a case of an employee suing for the similar reason. They felt that working on a Sunday (sabbath) was a sin. They won the case. If people are sympathetic to other reasons, sexual orientation, race, etc, why shouldn’t this individual’s rights be considered. Muslims are accomodated in their requirement to have prayer breaks throughout the day.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I think that this is ridiculous! I agree with Terra, while I understand the need or want to go to mass every Sunday, last time I checked you do not need a whole day for that. The last time I attended a Catholic church service was barely an hour and they usually have about 5 services a day. These days everyone is looking for a quick dollar!
October 24th, 2008 at 10:55 am
This will all depend on the original “agreement” that allowed him to have Sundays off. I find it hard to believe Sam’s Club would have something in writing that allowed him to do this. Not that it had to be in writing, but it would certainly bolster his case.
It sounds like the lawyer knows that this settlement will never reach anything that is close to $1 mill.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Unbelievable! Unless he was required to work the entire Sunday –like the previous respondent notes–there is no reason why he couldn’t go in the morning & work afterwards. Mass is only about an hour long. These types of lawsuits are what make HR troublesome. Employee’s read such cases & dollar signs appear floating in their heads. It also makes it harder when a legitimate case is exposed.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Mass is available at various times, he could very well attend before or after work. This sounds like a scam to me
October 24th, 2008 at 11:12 am
I disagree with the comments above — it is the Employer’s responsibility to work with an Employee who requests an accommodation. If it turns out that Walmart attempted to do so, by offering afternoon scheduling or early departure so he could to evening mass — then his case would inappropriate. It seems unlikely, however, that his lawyer would have filed a case if that were the situation.
If Walmart did not attempt to find a solution that met his and the Company’s needs and his, then $1 million does not seem an inappropriate demand relative to the Company’s apparent culpability.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:14 am
A devout practicing Catholic not only attends mass on Sunday, but adheres to the commandment to keep the sabbath day holy. Working on Sunday is not adhering to that commandment.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:23 am
This is the reason companies go out of business because of frivolous lawsuits. $1 million is completely inappropriate. I wish I didn’t have to be involved in HR but unfortunately I have to since I work for a small company and we have to perform many various functions. It is stuff like this that drives me crazy, it is always the employer that has to flex.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:26 am
While it is the employer’s responsibility to reasonably accomodate employees, they may feel that allowing him to work in the afternoons is reasonable or have him work in the morning is reasonable. Even if they told him that they would work around his schedule. It would have been their responsibility to tell him later that unfortunately we can no longer allow you to be off on Sundays. Things can change, it is retail. To sue for $1 million dollars is a bit much.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
My wife works for Wal-Mart part time for extra money. Their attitute with any situation is that we can find someone to replace you. You can ask for a schedule, but unless they want something from you, they won’t work around you at all. This is a multibillion dollar company that has fundraisers for company parties. Definately won’t put them out of business. It is not a frivolous lawsuit if it is justified and there is plenty of justification.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Why would $1 million dollars be extreme for catholics, and not for other religions who have sued for much greater amounts?
I agree that mass is said several times during a weekend and the employee should be able to work mass into his schedule with no problem, however Katy P makes an excellent point as well. Remember when there was nothing open on Sundays – when we had nothing better to do than spend time with our families!
October 24th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Another lawyer looking for a big contigency fee because he knows Wal-Mart will settle.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I have mixed feeling about this. He should be scheduled so he can attend Mass sometime over the weekend. As far as not working on the Sabbath, has he worked on Sundays at previous jobs? Maybe retail is not the business for him. If Walmart agreed to his having Sundays off, that is another issue. Would a good Catholic sue for an excessive amount of a million dollars? A lot of unanswered questions.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Don’t blame the lawyer. Lawyer’s sit in their office waiting for clients. A client walks in presents their case. A lawyer must analyze, evaluate, research the law to see if the facts of the case meets the elements of a discrimination charge. Then in some states discrimination charges must be reviewed first by the state’s civil rights office or EEOC. After their review a right to sue letter is issued or not. Then the lawyer files the discrimination case in state or federal court. The client is suing not the lawyer. Its against professional code of conduct for lawyers to file frivilous law suits and the lawyer can be sanctioned and sometimes disciplined by the disciplinary board. Katy P and Cindy are correct everything use to be closed on Sunday. Religious discrimination is on the rise. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), “Since 2001, EEOC received 17,458 charges of religious discrimination. EEOC recovered $49.2 million in monetary benefits for charging parties and other aggrieved individuals (not including monetary benefits obtained through litigation).” Businesses need to accommodate or determine its an undue hardship and explain why.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
If Walmart was prepared to settle, most likey they would have done so quietly and the lawyer wouldn’t have needed to file a lawsuit.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
The Sabath day observance is one of the least understood and least followed of the Christian Religion. I find it interesting that God only asks for one day that we obstain from out other activities and keep the Sabath day Holy. So I choose to do that by not working on Sunday as well as not shopping on Sunday. It would be interesting to see if the whole of Christianity were to keep the Sabath day, Walmart and other retail stores would close on Sunday and no one would have to work. As it is, even more important than the observance of the Sabath is freedom to choose. So if this gentleman doesn’t want to work on Sunday than he can go work somewhere that doesn’t require it, but Walmar has the right to be open on Sunday and require thier workers to take their turn on Sundays. His right have not been vilated he just needs to move on.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
He could have attended the vigil mass on Saturday afternoon or a very early morning Mass or late eveing Mass on Sunday. JFK is not telling us something OR there is something more at play on Wal-Mart’s part that hasn’t come out!
October 24th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
My church as well has Saturday evening and Sunday 6am to 12:45 pm Mass. They also have a 5pm Mass on Sundays. Why couldn’t he work a different shift on Sunday? Also, the word christian comes to mind. How does a good christian who wants to attend Mass on Sunday sleep at nights knowing that he is trying to make a million dollars off the company he worked for. Does that not then get passed on to the rest of the employees and the consumers?
Again, what does the word christian mean to him?
October 24th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Katy P said: “A devout practicing Catholic not only attends mass on Sunday, but adheres to the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. Working on Sunday is not adhering to that commandment.”
This is absolutely correct…my in-laws are devout Catholics and don’t go to the store, do laundry or yard work or any type of work or shopping on Sundays…and they give me a hard time when I do.
All religions are protected…not just those other than Christian and each religion has different levels of how devout followers are. If this was a Muslim person the lawsuit would be for 10 times the amount and it would be on the front page of every paper.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
It is clear that none of us have all the facts of this case, but it is interesting to see how quickly some of the responders jump to the conclusion that it is the Catholic employee’s responsibility to find a work-around by attending other scheduled masses. I am a senior manager at a large multi-national company. When the concept of “diversity” was rolled out by our HR organization several years ago, I was a strong supporter. In fact, I wrote the diversity mission statement for one of our company’s divisions. But what I have learned over the years is that the term “diversity” does not include everyone. In fact, what it appears to be is just a new code word for catering to minorities. On the one hand, no one seems to question why provisions are made for Muslims who want prayer breaks and foot baths, and no one questions why the gay community needs to openly promote and hold gay pride days at work, but let a Christian ask to have the Sabbath off, and immediately (as you can see) many of us assume that the employee is being inflexible and taking advantage of the company. I don’t pretend to know who, if anyone, is at fault in this particular case. The employee may be right or wrong, depending upon his work “agreement” with Wal-Mart and if Wal-Mart had made work schedule accommodations for other employees. But what strikes me with this dialogue is how many of you, without knowing all the facts, are quick to blame the employee and use words such as “ridiculous” and “outrageous” to describe his lawsuit. You even go so far as to put the employee’s faith in question by saying that a good Catholic would not create such a lawsuit. Shame on all of you who think in this very biased way. The truth is, in this country, it is not “cool” to be a Catholic…or a Christian for that matter. Christian values have been cast aside and are viewed by many as obsolete or out-of-touch. These days you’re only “cool” if you are identifying yourself with liberal viewpoints and catering to minorities. Nevertheless, it is not unreasonable in this day in age for a Christian to request an accommodation for Sunday religious observance. In response to such a request, companies and their HR management, need to be equally considerate and fair to ALL of their employees, not just the “diverse” minorities. I’m not saying or suggesting that companies like Wal-Mart should close down on weekends for Jewish and Christian religious observance, but what I would expect in this particular case is that the company demonstrates some flex and tries to work with the employee. I’m sure that it is possible for a creative and very large organization such as Wal-Mart to come up with some better solutions than firing the employee, IF the company wants to. The problem is that with some companies, they don’t want to. It’s easier to just get rid of the problem, in this case the employee. You HR people……your bias is showing. Time to step back and reassess both your corporate and personal value systems.
October 26th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Was the accommodation formally requested and documented? If not, where is the proof that such an agreement ever existed? Maybe he had a verba abreement with his supervisor. If his supervisor changed and the agreement wasn’t known, then there may be no agreement.
This isn’t about morality or what religion is correct and proper. People who subscribe to the Church of Good Times can claim that they can’t work on Friday nights or Saturday. It’s about whether a binding agreement was breached or a law violated.
October 26th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Another con artist working the system ! Mass is now held almost everywhere on Saturdays as well as Sundays. I’m sure that the NYS Div of Human Rights will give it away.
Oh, by the way how is the action brought by fired NYS Div of HR workers going against the state. Hope they win and get big bucks, everybody else does.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I agree with some of you and disagree with others. What especially bugged me was some of the comments Ann had. Yes, I DO agree with some of what you are saying HOWEVER you also need to understand that the employee knew that Wal-Mart was opened 7 days a week, therefore why did he even apply there in the first place.
If you don’t want to work on Sunday’s then find a job somewhere else, end of story! EVERYONE is replacable these days. There is alot of issues that goes on in a workplace today, do we all like it? NO! However it is up to US to decide if we want to just deal with it or move on. Noone was forcing him to stay there therefore LOOK FOR ANOTHER JOB! Trying to sue them for something as small as this is stupid. However IF he has a written agreement from the start and now they are revolking it then Yes, he has a right to do something.
October 27th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
The case should definitely be thrown out by the judge, but then most cases should, but then all judges were lawyers and protect their own profession (like most Congressmen and Senators!). Lawyers in our country are too eager to waste the court’s time to line their own pockets. I doubt very much SAM’S will settle this one out of court.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Anne – you said everything I wanted to say, only better. Kudos for speaking with understanding, logic and common sense.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Working on Sunday is not a sin for Catholics. There are also masses on other days. Check out the churches on Saturdays.
There might be a reason why this employee needed Sunday off other than just a mass but it would have been up to him to let the managers know this.
December 12th, 2008 at 11:45 am
I agree with Charles, There are too many ambulance chasing lawyers out there looking for a quick $1 to 10 thousand dollar payday, and quick to grab on to a mega million dollar company lawsuit to get an out of court settlement, and get on to the next. As stated before, there may be more to the firing than we read here. I am sure any supervisor would try to work some sort of schedule out with an employee than firing any GOOD HARD working one. Beside if anyone is a really worth being employed and really want to WORK for a weeks pay, they are not going to run to a lawyer to try to sue. I understand McDonalds will set up a working schedule with most employees upon hiring if they have a necessity, and they pay more than minimum wage.
January 30th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
I think everyone is missing the point. It was only in the 70’s that Sunday was “liberated” and Catholics started “not keeping the Sabbath Day holy.” This gentleman obviously practices his religion, and in trying to do so, asked for reasonable accomodations up front. If the employee really does honor the concepts and practices of the church, then his arguement is not just going to mass – even though it’s offered on Saturdays and several services on Sunday, but he is truly trying to keep the letter of the law.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 am
You can tell the age of some of the posters by their attitude. My best friend growing up was not allowed to do many things on Sunday such as sew or dance. She was not allowed to play with “face cards.” A few Christian religions are still this strict. So are some practitioners of more mainstream faiths.
Just about everywhere there were Blue Laws: laws restricting activities or sales of goods on Sunday, which stems from the accommodation of Christian Sunday worship. Many states continue the use of blue laws for the sole sake of tradition. Many states in the Southern United States still practice of these blue laws.
This from July 6, 1987: Stores opened to Maryland shoppers Sunday following the statewide repeal of blue laws in all but three counties. The only states with blue laws still on the books are Alabama, Maine, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia