With unemployment mired above nine percent and new jobless claims hovering at 400,000 a week, the Obama administration needed a victory, and at last it has one. The Justice Department has forced a Middle American school district to pay a Muslim teacher $75,000 and implement a sensitivity training course throughout the district, after administrators refused to allow the new hire to take three weeks off for a trip to Mecca in 2008.
Safoorah Khan had held her job as a math lab instructor at McArthur Middle School in Berkeley, Illinois, less than a year when she asked unpaid leave to make hajj, the once-in-a-lifetime religious requirement that is one of the five pillars of Islam. The school district noted that she asked for the leave immediately before exams, was the only instructor in her department, and that the teachers’ union-brokered contract offered her infidel counterparts no comparable leave. Last December, the Justice Department filed suit against the district after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported her complaint. The DoJ argued administrators had violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, discriminating against Khan because of her religion.
Maybe we all need sensitivity training! We have to change everything in this country to be more sensitive to these poor misunderstood Muslims who are such a peaceful religion. After all, they will soon be our masters if we don't stop this nonsense.
The facts have been tortured, some. The school district has NOT been directed to pay for a Haj. Below is an excerpt from the DOJ announcement:
Under the terms of the consent decree, Berkeley School District will pay $75,000 to Ms. Khan for lost back pay, compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees. Berkeley School District also is required to develop and distribute a religious accommodation policy consistent with Title VII’s requirement to reasonably accommodate the religious beliefs, practices and/or observances of all employees and prospective employees. In addition, Berkeley School District is required to provide mandatory training on religious accommodation to all board of education members, supervisors, managers, administrators and human resources officials who participate in decisions on religious accommodation requests made by its employees and prospective employees.
NOWHERE does the agreement say the school district will pay for the Haj.
That said - the Islamic calendar, being lunar, means that the date for Haj changes every year. Were I the school district I'd urge the individual to wait until the Haj falls on a favorable date. Islam does not require a Haj by any specific age - it simply requires that all who are able, perform the Haj (before they die).
My response to the employee ---- "this year doesn't look good, perhaps you can celebrate the Haj next year, so we can have a little more advance planning."
This teacher is being pretty selfish. Like BB said, she could go during one of the years when Ramadan is in the summer. And now you have to imagine other school districts will covertly consider religion when they interview Islamic teacher candidates.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
small point - The Hajj is distinct from Ramadan. (both are on the Islamic Lunar calendar- so they do not overlap).
The Hajj is part of Eid al-Adha - a holy day that celebrates Abraham's obedience - being willing to sacrifice his son.
IMO, The Hajj has long since been commercialized into a major tourist event (if memory serves me correct - the bin Laden family's contracting company is one of the main beneficiaries).
Getting back to the issue (the settlement) My guess is that someone from the school district said/did something that was patently discriminatory - and the DoJ decided to make an example of them.
Learn something new. For some reason, I always thought the major production in Mecca was connected to Ramadan. Only makes sense, we have more than one religious holiday, they do too.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
