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Compliance November 17, 2006
Judge Reinstates Job for Woman Refusing Sunday Hours
November 17, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A Missouri
woman who was fired from a public library for refusing to
work on Sundays was reinstated to the staff assistant
position she had held for 12 years.
Reported by Adrien Martin
A federal jury ruled in the woman’s favor in May, finding the library had discriminated against her on the basis of religion, the Associated Press reports. She was awarded $53,712 in lost wages, and last month a judge ordered that she be reinstated to her staff assistant job.
After the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) determined Connie Rehm had a legitimate claim, the library attempted financial settlement, but Rehm refused because she wanted her job back. Rehm called the library position a “gift from God” because it allowed her to serve her community, the AP said.
The Rolling Hills Consolidated Library fired Rehm in 2003 when it adopted Sunday hours and she refused to work on that day.
“What price is my religious freedom? What is it worth?” Rehm said, according to the AP. “It’s not a matter of displaying the Ten Commandments. It’s being able to live the Ten Commandments, and that’s what my employer was asking me not to do.”