It is sensible for employers to try to accommodate the religious beliefs of their employees, so long as they can do so without seriously disrupting the workplace. A company might not require a person who observes the Sabbath to work on that day of the week, for instance.
But under federal law, any such accommodation must be “reasonable.” It cannot be required if it causes a hardship to the place of business.
Why, then, has our federal government very unreasonably filed a lawsuit against an Illinois school district for refusing to give a Muslim teacher three weeks of leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca? The suit asks a court to force the Berkeley, Ill., school district to adopt new rules that will better accommodate workers’ religious practices. It also demands the reinstatement of teacher Safoorah Khan – who resigned after her request for leave was denied – as well as back pay and even compensatory damages!
While emergencies may force a teacher to be out for an extended period of time, most teachers would acknowledge that it is hard on students if a teacher is absent for a full three weeks. Substitute teachers may be conscientious, but they cannot effectively “fill the gap” for such an extended amount of time.
The frivolous nature of the lawsuit is evident. Khan started teaching in the district in 2007 and soon after requested the three weeks of leave from her duties. She told the school board she “could not justify delaying” the pilgrimage to Mecca, a city in Saudi Arabia. But in fact she could have delayed it. Islam does not say that a Muslim should make the pilgrimage to Mecca in a particular year but only sometime in his life.