Fired Muslim workers deserve unemployment benefits from Cargill, Colorado labor department rules
Colorado’s labor department has ruled that more than 100 Muslim workers fired from a Fort Morgan meatpacking plant are eligible for unemployment benefits because a company cannot force workers to choose between their religion and their jobs ...
Cargill fired more than 150 Muslim workers, most of them from Somalia, in December after they walked off the job...
The workers, many of whom could not read or speak English, told hearing officers that interpreters had reviewed employment policies upon their hiring, including a “Political and Religious Workplace Expression Policy.”
The policy said that employees could pray as long as business needs were met, and they should request religious accommodations through their supervisors. The workers said they understood they could pray but would not always be able to go when they wanted ...
The Muslim workers said that their religion requires that they pray five times per day ...
The decision orders repeatedly said: “No person should be expected to choose between fidelity to their religion and their job”...
After not reporting to work for three days, Cargill fired them.
The decision orders also revealed tension between the Somali workers and their representatives in the Teamsters union, which is led by Hispanic workers ...
CAIRCO Research
Somalis in Ft. Morgan, CO say they can’t assimilate without a mosque, Refugee Resettlement Watch, March 21, 2016
Muslim workers in Fort Morgan fired over prayer dispute walkout, Denver Post, December 30, 2015
America’s Senator Jeff Sessions Warns That Hillary Clinton’s Refugee Scheme Will Cost a Fortune, Limits to Growth, June 29, 2016
Anatomy of the terror threat: Files show hundreds of US plots, refugee connection, Fox News, June 22, 2016
Obama Administration Joint Effort With Corporations - Can Resettle Refugees Limitlessly, Daily Caller, July 7, 2016