Woman says she lost job for eating bacon

Orlando Sentinel ^ | August 13, 2004 | Brian Baskin

[Cincinatus' Wife]

........"This is unusual in the sense that my client is not seeking an accommodation to practice a particular religious belief, but instead is being discriminated against because she is failing to conform to the religious belief of management," he said.

Officials with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that handles workplace-discrimination complaints, said Morales' case was "a groundbreaker."

But Kujaatele Kweli, CEO of Rising Star, said Morales was fired for insubordination, not for eating bacon. He said she cooked bacon in the office lunchroom's microwave after she was warned twice that her eating pork at work offended co-workers and clients. Rising Star produces self-help DVDs and is designing an Internet filter that would block sites Muslim parents might find inappropriate for their children.

The policy was put in place because "99 percent of our funding comes from a Muslim client," and 30 percent to 40 percent of Rising Star's 40 employees at the time were Muslim, Kweli said. The company now has a staff of five, he said.

"She was not fired because I or anybody found it offensive that she ate pork," Kweli said.

"She was fired because we established a rule that allowed Muslims and Christians to eat together, and Muslims and the rest of the staff could not eat together if we had allowed that to continue."...........

[GeronL]

How come its never seen as a bad thing to offend Christians?

[SirLurkedalot]

Because we don't chop peoples heads off.

[GeronL]

Maybe we should start??

[Ruth A.]

after she was warned twice that her eating pork at work offended co-workers and clients.

That's not offensive. Now, rubbing lard on the telephones and toilet seats THAT would be offensive.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I guess they'll have to designate a pork cooking area.

[GeronL]

We need a Pork Eaters Rights Campaign, PERC

[jaykay]

She should consider herself lucky she still has her head.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I have experienced some pretty odious smells from, er, "ethnic" lunches that people have heated in office microwave ovens, and the occasional overheated bag of popcorn, but never anybody trying to fry bacon. That's a new one on me.

[I still care]

I was raised in an area with a lot of conservative Jews. Their dietary habits have a strong similarity to Muslim ones.

Cooking bacon in the office microwave would be - well, I can't tell how upset they would be. If you go to a supermarket in Long Island, they have different slicers for kosher meat, non kosher meat, and cheese.

Really observant Jews often have 2 dishwashers and 2 fridges in the kitchen so meat and dairy don't get too close. That's also why doilies are placed beneath kosher products in the supermarket. You won't get milk in a jewish deli either - only non dairy creamer.

If she was asked twice to respect their dietary rules, I have to say I understand the tension. Perhaps a better alternative would be to provide her with a separate place to eat. But if keeps persisting in putting pork in the microwave, it won't be tolerated.

By the way, I know someone who was fired from a chef job for putting dairy on a counter in a exclusive restaurant where a lot of meat appetizers were prepared. I think they tossed them all.

[jaykay]

Maybe we should start??

Yeah! And we even have a better way to do it than their rusty old blades

[SirLurkedalot]

;)

[GeronL]

Yes, we need to make the left fear and repect us.

[jaykay]

When I first heard this on radio news, she had a BLT. MAybe she took the already fried bacon off of the sandwich and warmed it up in the microwave.

[maryz]

but never anybody trying to fry bacon. That's a new one on me.

Probably should stay that way! My sister tried cooking bacon in a microwave -- once. It took her forever to clean it up afterwards, and she still had the smell of bacon every time she used it for quite a while!

I didn't read the whole article (not in the mood to register), but she may have been being deliberately "offensive." Assuming Muslim dietary rules are as stringent as those of kashrut, I doubt that any of the Muslim employees could even use the microwave after bacon was cooked in it.

[HiTech RedNeck]

The normal way to eat a BLT is cold. If she looks like she was trying to make a point, then she has no case.

[GeronL]

Cook bacon in the microwave by wrapping it up in papertowel and putting on and under paper plates

works really good, BTW!

[GeronL]

She might have wanted to just warm up the bacon only.

[Ichneumon]

Rising Star produces self-help DVDs and is designing an Internet filter that would block sites Muslim parents might find inappropriate for their children.

I'm betting that this site would be near the top of the list:

http://www.spam.com/

[HiTech RedNeck]

Real rednecks cook it in skillets that their hound dogs lick clean between uses.