Posted on 08/30/2018 6:29:05 PM PDT by Rebelbase
A 34-year-old man has filed an $800,000 lawsuit against a Albany construction company, claiming the owner fired him after he refused to attend weekly Bible study.
Ryan Coleman’s lawsuit states that he discovered only after he was hired as a painter for Dahled Up Construction that the job entailed more than just fixing up homes. According to Coleman and his lawsuit, owner Joel Dahl told him all employees were required to partake in regular Bible study sessions led by a Christian pastor during the work day, while on the clock.
Coleman told Dahl that the requirement was illegal, but Dahl wouldn’t budge, according to the lawsuit. In order to keep his job, Coleman obliged for nearly six months but ultimately told Dahl he couldn’t go, the suit says.
“I said ‘I’ve kept an open mind, and it’s just not my thing.’ And he said, ‘Well, I’m going to have to replace you,'” Coleman told The Oregonian/OregonLive.
“He said ‘You’re not going to tell me how to run my own company,’” Coleman continued. “I said ‘I’m not trying to tell you how to run your own company, but you’re not going to tell me what god to pray to.’”
Coleman said his religious beliefs are indigenous: He’s half Caucasian and half Native American, with Cherokee and Blackfoot heritage.
Coleman worked for the small construction company from October 2017 to this past April, when he was fired, the suit states.
“This is so illegal,” said Corinne Schram, a Portland attorney representing Coleman. “Unless you are a religious organization like a church, you cannot force your employees to participate in religious activities.”
(Excerpt) Read more at oregonlive.com ...
He should have forced them into LGBT studies instead.
$800,000.00! For WHAT?
I am a Christian, but I have to side with the employee on this one. You can’t coerce someone to follow Christ, it has to be something they desire to do, otherwise it just doesn’t work. Also, he’s right it is illegal.
I suspect very strongly a false flag set up here. Could very likely be looking for a quick way to score a fat payout rather than earning it the right way and by rather unscrupulous means. Wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened.
His zeal and stupidity cost him his business.
His insurance will not cover this.
Exactly
“...Coleman obliged for nearly six months...”
So it took that long for his religious beliefs to kick in?
He may wish he had attended the Bible study considering what the pits of hell have to offer him. He can’t say the employer didn’t try to consider the Salvation of his workers. We are in the last days. Evil is dripping all over this country. Poor Lee Greenwood’s song is losing it’s applicability. .
$800,000.00! For WHAT?
**************
Mostly to pay the lawyers so that he may get a small settlement.
The man is a painter and most of the ones I’ve been around are not the most stable people. If what he says is true, then more power to him. However I think there’s more to the story.
I agree it’s illegal but just wish they’d make any life and world view forced meetings illegal, includIng the lgbtq crap
There has got to be more to this story...like the other side ...
I find it hard to believe the company owner is that stupid...
Being fired for not attending Bible study.
Bible study is not the road to Salvation. Yeshua is.
That company must not have any sort of Human Resources Department. He should know better in this day and age, you cannot mandate that sort of behavior. Religious views are a private affair. He also should have made this ‘rule’ clear during the hiring process. We are assuming for now that the ex-worker is telling the truth. There is always another side.
Dahl’s Albany attorney, Kent Hickam, doesn’t dispute that Dahl requires all of his employees to attend Bible study, but says it’s legal because Dahl pays them to attend.
“Mr. Dahl feels that it’s unfortunate that he (Coleman) is now trying to exploit Mr. Dahl’s honorable intentions for unjustified financial gain,” Hickman said.
Dahl told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he’d struggled with drugs and alcohol and served time in prison for attempted second-degree assault. He said he’s been clean and sober for seven years. He started his company in 2016, with the idea of helping other convicted felons or people who’ve battled addictions rebuild their lives.
“I’m a second-chance employer,” Dahl said. (Joel Dahl says he’s not related to another second-chance employer, Dave Dahl of Dave’s Killer Bread.)
What’s the rest of the story?
It was a six month set up then. Don’t think a scammer would put up with six months of bible study.
Everyday seems to produce a trick question on a bar exam. As distasteful it might seem to some, if this presumably private business made the bible study explicit in the employment contract, and it was fully known prior to the plaintiff entering said contract, then it seems perfectly legal. There is no religious discrimination going on since you just have to attend, not convert, and being a private entity there is no Constitutional violation e.g. The State isn’t involved.
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