In a 5-4 decision, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled today that Sea-Tac Airport workers have the right to sue their employer for providing lunches that fail to accommodate their religious beliefs:
Due to security concerns, the workers at Gate Gourmet can’t bring their own lunches to work. Nor can they leave work on their 30-minute lunch breaks.
Instead, the company provides their lunches. While there are ostensibly vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, the workers say the vegetarian options include animal by-products and allege the company switched from turkey meatballs to beef-and-pork meatballs without telling them.
Omiallah, is it possible to be a more awful employer? This is a company that is actually in the business of providing meals that comply with special dietary needs—from Gate Gourmet’s own fucking website:
Our chefs hail from different regions and countries and are experts in their respective native cuisine. With Gate Gourmet, you can count on a partner with expertise in ethnic and cultural cuisines as well as dietary and religious customs. Gate Gourmet can provide any type of special meal to cater to any specific dietary need, in full accordance with IATA specifications.
And yet they couldn’t bother to do the same for their own Muslim workers? What an utterly reprehensible display of disrespect!
One of the ironies* of the $15 minimum wage movement is the oversized role that Alaska Airlines and its Sea-Tac Airport contractors played in pushing the issue over the top. For years, airport workers had been protesting their low pay and abusive work conditions to no avail. The SeaTac $15 initiative was initially conceived as a means of pressuring Alaska to force its contractors to the negotiating table; organizers never believed they’d really have to go to the ballot. But Alaska chose to play hardball, and the rest is history.
* (A further irony is that a nation that wets itself at the thought of Islamist extremists appears to go out of its way to put Muslim immigrant workers behind airport security gates, only to pay them crappy wages, feed them pork, and fire them for praying on the job. Given our obsession with airport security, you’d think that if we can’t bring ourselves to respect these airport workers as actual, you know, people, we might think it in our self-interest to at least try to pretend.)
I wonder if a religious case could be made for forcing GMF’s to be labeled. If people aren’t concerned about their own or their children’s well-being, maybe they’ll be worried about making Jesus mad.
Underpaying and abusing workers is an indigenous American custom.
I wonder how long it will take for some GOP legislator in Olympia to introduce a bill making it a felony to tell Muslims they’re being fed pork? You know, like the GOP laws in livestock states that make it a serious crime to take pictures of farm animals being dropped and run over by forklifts, etc.
Perhaps worthy of stressing this is only the “right to sue”; that is, to commence the process to pursue their claims. That’s it. This doesn’t mean they’ll win their case, but they can make use of the the court system. Those are some pretty basic rights in this country (one would’ve presumed)
Is Theophrastus a mild form of Priapism?
As one who purposely doesn’t eat pork Puddy would be upset if Puddy found out Puddy was purposely fed pork products. Puddy would support a lawsuit against GateGourmet.
@5 can plants get a hard on or are you just a DUMMOCRETIN moron as always?
@6 How do you feel about a law that makes it a crime to disclose to you that you’re eating beef from an abused cow?
How do you feel about a law that makes it a crime to disclose to you what chemicals are in the fracking fluid polluting your drinking water?
How do you feel about a law that makes it a crime to register you to vote?
All of these are “laws” sponsored by, and in some cases passed by, Republican legislators.
re 6 — “Puddybud – The ONE and Only spews:”
I get a mental image of Mr. T’s purposefully overloaded outrage every time I read one of your comments. The only thing missing is the humor. That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout, FOOL!!!
These religious rules against eating pork are related to the fact that the Middle East is a warmer climate, mostly, than Europe. Pork in the area must have been more prone to disease, which can be overcome by properly cooking pork. The folks of the Middle East just didn’t figure that out and relied on a religious edict to “protect” them from pork
Personally, my favorite form of pork is nice crispy bacon! The more bacon, the better life is!
The sin here is with the eater. If they were true Muslims they would not eat food that an authority has not assured them is Hallal.
‘Nowaday’s, a pork chop is your friend.’
Chris Rock
@9
I like to leave the deterministic cultural anthropology to jared diamond. Unlike most people, he makes it sound ok.
@4, the Supremes are fast getting rid of most of the basic rights we assumed we had.
12
Just as long as he doesn’t wanna take away the bacon!
@5 still a racist jerk after all these years. Still without a mind since birth!
So sad so sad!
Hey Roger IDIOT Wabbit…
Fracking… Hmmm… read the article… Disclose the chemicals publicly and anyone can do it. Disclose the chemicals in court fine.
You abusing cows not IDIOT Wabbit? Who knew? Beef… Not what’s for Puddy’s dinner. Very rarely eat beef. Eating lots of red meat really not good for your health. So Puddy not involved in ay of those issues you “discuss” with beef. Stop abusing cows like you abuse everyone here IDIOT Wabbit!
Registering someone to vote is now illegal or the WAY they try to do it is under scrutiny?
This is the company that supplies meals to the airlines. If they can’t feed their employees the real thing, what are they selling/giving to the passengers? Ask for Kosher, who knows what you’re getting. There was also a comment in there about the veggie meals not being really vegetarian – “For example, the refried beans were made with pork lard, and other supposedly vegetarian dishes were made with chicken broth.”