So then you are okay with employers requiring employees to go to Quran study as long as they pay you? How about a pro abortion rally? Anti gun meetings? Can an employer require you to do anything as long as they pay you?

I didn't see him saying that at all, but don't let me interrupt your straw man composition...

Build away...

I'm just curious on where the line is. What can an employer require an employee to do as long as they are being paid?

That's different than what you accused SR of above...

Legally, if you inform an employer of your religious beliefs, they must try to accommodate you, if you give enough notice, and it doesn't hurt the business...

Similarly, they asked this guy to attend these classes as part of their recovery program for hiring felons...

You can opt out of such things, by giving the same advanced notice as if you converted to Judaism, or Mormonism, and needed accommodation, and notified your employer.

Seeking nearly a million dollars is something a shyster attorney would tell you to do.

And to claim that, as a felon, you don't have many options other than to sue a company that gives felons work opportunities, doesn't bolster your claim

Generally,anything, as long as it's not unlawful.

Different states have different laws.

I employed someone who came from a state where a 'job description' is a contract and state law said they didn't have to do anything outside of the job description without add'l compensation.

I found this out when she refused to follow a simple instruction to empty the trash, and I explained to her how MD was an employment at will state, and she was required to do what I asked of her. I looked it up (I wanna say it was KY?), and that state basically said you have a right to work and employer doesn't have the right to ask you to do anything outside the job description, or you have the right to renegotiate your wages. It was nuts.. I didn't wanna fight with her, so I ended up doing it...

I ended up firing her anyway..

Turned out, she was prego, and knew it, and wanted a job with healthcare and maternity leave, and thought that she could game the system and not get fired...

Just a thought, but if you're hired on, let's say, the 4th..... and you come in on the 20th saying you're pregnant and you need all these special accommodations because you're 2 months pregnant and 'high risk'... and 'just found out'.....Don't pull out a doctors note dated 2 days before you're hired, then fill out an application saying you can work 50 hours a week without restriction when your doc said you can't work..'You can't fire me because I'm pregnant!'.... "I'm not firing you because you're pregnant, I'm firing you for lying on your application and in your interview, and insubordination".... Easiest wage and hour (MD's equivalent of L&I/DOL/Unemployment) 'fight' I ever had...

So, basically, WA is an at will state (like MD).. I can ask you to crawl on all fours and bark like a dog... and you're fired if you don't do it... Not illegal at all... You have a choice not to work for them.

Yes I do! If they are paying me and it’s not unlawful. If I don’t like it I can go work for somebody else or start my own company to do things the way I want. I don’t think I should make somebody else change to make me happy. It’s the owners company he can run it how he wants. If enough people don’t t like what he is doing nobody will work for him and he will close his doors.

If it was a requirement for a program to hire him then I agree he is in the wrong.

This conversation is like the cake person that didn’t want to make a cake for a gay weeding. If I was the customer, I would go somewhere else, not try force somebody to make me a cake, or sue them for money because they wouldn’t and my feelings are hurt. If I was an ambitious person I might even take that as a reason to start my own company to bake cakes for everyone that wants a cake.


There is a song by RUSH. It states “We all have a choice, I will choose free will”. I have the choice to do what I want within the bounds of law and morality. I don’t have to agree with everybody and they don’t have to agree with me.

Fair enough. I personally​ think you hire me to do a job and if i do that job to your standards then gimme my paycheck. If i don't then fire me. My personal life or beliefs should be off no concern to my employer. But I see the flip side too that a private company should be able to run their business how they want and hire people with similar beliefs.

Funny you say that. I was literally thinking the same thing earlier.

Yeah, I think we are getting into semantics a bit, and that's my fault from my word choice.

It's an opportunity for felons that they don't otherwise have, that another felon owns.

He created this to give other felons a job after incarceration, and the story read that at some point, he added this class as part of the program...

So not sure how much of a program it is, sorry, I presented it as an official program...

What I was trying to convey was, just as a person can claim to be Mormon, Jewish, or Muslim, and make advanced requests of an employer, and the employer is supposed to make 'reasonable' efforts to accommodate, similarly, if there is a 'class' you are given advanced notice to take, you're supposed to if you can...

If it's on the clock, and you're paid for it, then there is minimal reason you can't accommodate your employer.

If the foundation of your lawsuit is that it will be hard to get the opportunity the company you quit and are suing was giving you, good luck.

^^ I'm not sure on the details but if the owner has a program/ opportunity to help felons get work and he has certain demands that are agreed to then he must go. I agree. If he claims to be Jewish then maybe make a reasonably effort to accommodate but I don't think that was this guy's main concern.

I find these kinds of situation interesting since it is essentially two peoples "rights" that conflict with each other. I get curious on where people draw the line. Personally if I'm doing the job I was hired to do and not bringing the business bad publicity then everything else shouldn't matter

I don't see in the article were it say's the guy was a felon or the company had a program for hiring felons

That's odd, they must have edited it...

You can Google the names involved....

The company owner is an ex-felon from years ago, who started a company to help ex-felons gain employment upon release.

One requirement is to attend this meeting, that you're paid for, which this guy agreed to when hired.

I don't see this breaking well for the employer.

My department has dinner meetings (read: lots of food, lots of alcohol, and a few comments about how the department is doing) which are timed to allow as many department members to attend as possible. They aren't mandatory, and we're paid overtime if we attend. If we don't attend, no worries. We're allowed to keep working to earn the same overtime pay. All this employer had to do was to take a similar route--not mandatory, work if you like.