Posted on 01/09/2016 3:50:35 AM PST by real saxophonist
Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan will allow more than 150 Muslim employees to reapply for their positions following a mass termination in December.
The Wichita-based company let its employees go after a misunderstanding about the company policy on prayer breaks escalated.
The Somali Muslim employees are being represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Cargill representatives reviewed the no-call, no-show termination policy which led to the terminations and decided to allow the workers fired in the dispute to reapply for their jobs after a 30-day period, rather than the company policy of 180 days.
A CAIR news release on Friday said the organization welcomes the change.
“We hope this means that Cargill will continue to consider changes to other policies, particularly the policy on prayer accommodation. Our clients were denied reasonable accommodations and there has been a pattern of hostility to their daily requests for prayer accommodations,†said Jaylani Hussein, executive director for the Minnesota chapter of CAIR.
Hussein and another CAIR representative, Jennifer Wicks, traveled to Colorado this past week to meet with the fired employees.
The issues began Dec. 18, when some Somali Muslim employees asked for a break to pray.
“When they requested their prayer breaks, a majority of them did not get breaks to pray,†Hussein said. “The supervisors on hand told them, ‘We aren’t going to be able to accommodate you — You should just go home.’ â€
About 200 Somali employees did not report to work for the second shift Dec. 21, said Mike Martin, director of communications for Cargill.
The employees met with Cargill management and the union that represents the plant employees Dec. 22 to come to an understanding, but they left without a resolution.
“Based on company policy, employees that do not show up or call in for three consecutive days, with Monday, Dec. 21 being the first day, were at risk for termination,†Martin said in an email. “Efforts were made to communicate to employees who did not show up for work to ensure they understood their jobs would be at jeopardy.â€
Some of them did come back to work following the attempts.
When employees did not show up for work Dec. 23 — the third day — termination procedures for about 150 employees began, he said.
“While reasonable efforts are made to accommodate employees, accommodation is not guaranteed every day and is dependent on a number of factors that can, and do, change from day to day,†Martin said. “This has been clearly communicated to all employees.â€
Islamic faith and corporate policies also tangled in September 2008, when 230 Muslim employees walked out of the JBS meatpacking plant in east Greeley.
The problem sparked during the Muslim holiday Ramadan. Observers of the holiday don’t eat or drink during daylight hours in the holy month, but break the fast after sunset prayers.
Employees at the time said they hadn’t received word the previously agreed-to prayer time was pushed back 30 minutes.
According to past Tribune reports, some workers at that time said supervisors locked them out of bathrooms and stopped them from using water fountains.
JBS officials would not comment on the religious accommodations in the meatpacking plant, but have said in other reports the 2008 problems have since been resolved internally. The company put prayer rooms in the meatpacking plant, and it allows Muslim employees to switch their work shifts during Ramadan.
The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission brought a suit against JBS in 2009 for the Greeley case, and for a similar case in Nebraska. The Nebraska case was settled in JBS’s favor, but the Colorado case remains in litigation.
In July, a federal judge denied JBS’ motion for summary judgment to have the suit thrown out. The suit claims JBS discriminated against and unlawfully terminated Somali Muslim workers in Greeley.
Martin maintains the Cargill meatpacking plant, which still employs about 400 Muslim employees, always makes reasonable attempts to accommodate religious practices.
“At no time did Cargill prevent people from prayer at Fort Morgan, nor have we changed policies related to religious accommodating and attendance,†Martin said.
Hussein said he thinks there was a misunderstanding about the policies.
“There’s an education gap or an awareness gap, and oftentimes the employees didn’t have a clear understanding of where that line is for a reasonable accommodation,†he said.
The goals were to get the 150 ex-employees back to work as soon as possible and to clarify the prayer policy. At least half of that has now been met.
“If we can get our employees back to work, and we can clarify the prayer accommodations that are available, then that would be a good resolution for both of us,†Hussein said.
OMG...militant Somali Muslims are working in Cargile meat packing plants and have access to our food! Someone should print a list of brands that use this meat. I certainly don’t want it on my table. We became too familiar with the loathsome Somalies in MN.
No, don’t beef up security. Switch to producing only pork products.
‘’Thank-you for re-applying to work. Your application is under consideration for a position on our pork products line.’’
Ok...guess you never ran a large business with hundred of employees before...
Back when I did, recruiting, hiring, training, getting an employee productive cost somewhere between $5K to 8K because of having to comply with the burdensome laws, policies, legalese, etc...
So saving that cost is business prudent...
Offering a lower wage is probably not legal if you are doing the same job or position...
Exactly
Cargill's main concern should, they rehire the Somalis and the food is deliberately contaminated as revenge.
It should be 30 years, but if these ash holes re-hire these savages they deserve whatever the savages do to them financially and physically.
LOL
Smithfield's is another brand that concerns me. It's Chinese owned now.
We stopped buying their hams in protest but it may get more involved than that now.
Our dear congress just passed a bill that removes the country of origin from meat products. Yes, that's right, crap from China (or any other country), pork, beef, chicken et al may very well turn up on our store shelves and we are not the wiser. Their wonderful shrimp is already here, but is usually labelled as such. The label is going away.
A Chinese owned company is almost guaranteed to import their adulterated crap.
Smithfield has a pretty extensive list of brands and products aside from the Smithfield Hams brand.
Congress claims their hands were tied because of some international court ruling. Yeah Riiiiight.
“They said they could re-apply. They didn’t say they would hire them back.”.......
BINGO! We have a winner.
So which will work cheaper, the muzzies or the Mexicans?
“Getting 200 new employees to do that kind of work wasn’t going to be easy.”..............
I am not a “union man” but you get what you pay for.
“Getting 200 new employees to do that kind of work wasn’t going to be easy.”
No it wouldn’t be easy. Major chicken outlet by me and they cant fill the jobs at over $15 per hour. Good paying jobs for rural Wisconsin. Yet, you will hear them all complain while lined up at the food pantry. Or in the grocery store while using their food share card. We have raised a nation of wimps and whiners.
Absolutely correct....if one refuses an offered job his welfare should be stopped!!
Sorry, Mohammed, that position has been filled.
No, Adhmed, we’ve eliminated that position.
Thank you, Saed, we’ll keep your application right here in file 13.
Watch for the Cargill poisoned meat articles.
Go Trump Go. Someone has to protect us from these Politically Correct fools.
We have Catholic Schools building Prayer rooms and foot baths for these people, we have public schools in New York doing the same thing yet we can't wear a cross pendant or display a Bible near one of these places.
Business Prudent is not hiring these scum in the first place.
-—Business Prudent is not hiring these scum in the first place.——
Not going to disagree... but that barn door is already opened...
It can be very expensive to close...
I’ve made my share of “bad hires” over the years...
The really smart ones can cling and hang on for years knowing how to work the system...
A termination can be a very expensive move, if you fire a real asshole...
However, the key word is "reasonable accommodation". What I've read of this case, "11 Somali (Muslim) workers in one part of the plant all wanted to pray at once during the second shift. Normally, the company allows only one to three to go at a time during a shift so as not to interfere with meat production."
Cargill allowed prayer breaks and even "has long had two "reflection rooms," where Muslim workers can take short, usually 5-minute, prayer breaks." I wonder if they would provide chapels with Holy Water Fonts for Catholics or separate "reflection rooms" for Jews, Hindus and Pastafarians? /s
Not allowing 11 workers working on the same shift and the same production line to all take a prayer break at the very same time does not seem unreasonable as it would IMO fall under and "would pose an undue hardship" to the company. See numbers 6 through 9:
http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/qanda_religion.html
But the 150 who were fired were not as I understand extended past the 11, nor were they fired for requesting a reasonable accommodation for prayer break(s) nor for complaining over the policy, they just failed to show up for work for three days which is grounds for termination.
Where I work a no-call, no-show for even one day, unless there are extenuating circumstances such as the employee was in an accident or hospitalized and too ill to call off (and yes we even had one who was arrested and in jail for a DUI, but on a weekend when he was not scheduled to work FWIW) is grounds for termination. A no-call, no-show for three days is considered job abandonment and a "voluntary" resignation. We have a policy were anyone terminated for job abandonment is not eligible for re-hire in 30 days or in 180 days but EVER!
Use this:
http://dan.hersam.com/tools/smart-quotes.html
Copy and paste and then "Convert" and paste the converted text. An extra step which should not be necessary but until this is fixed, works great.
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