Conflict between Job and Faith

[McCulloch]

A Target pharmacist refused to fill a script for an emergency contraceptive, which has launched an assault by Planned Parenthood and other similar organizations to determine Target's policy regarding BC and emergency contraceptive.

Will it matter if the person applied for and got the job before pharmaceutical companies made this drug or started doing something which he thinks contradicts his values?

Question for debate, "Should a person be allowed to refuse to perform a portion of his or her job due to religious values?"
Assume for discussion that the task in question volates the person's religious values, is not generally considered illegal or immoral outside of the person's religion and was not part of the person's job when the person was hired.

[Chad]

Well, they could refuse to perform the duty assigned to them, but they will have to realize that that decision could hold some unfavourable consequences.

If they truly feel that it violates their religious beliefs, they should talk it over with their supervisor and tell them how they feel about it. Maybe they could be switched to a department where they could perform their needed duties without feeling that their religious values have been violated.

There's a lot more to factor in I guess. Such as their supervisors religious beliefs and the size/populatirty of the store. A much more well known store such as Target is more likely to make news for something like this (I would think so at least).

When I'm at work I put my emotions and beliefs behind me and do what I need to do to accomplish my job. If I was needed to do something that violated my beliefs I would talk to my supervisor or start looking for a new job. However, beliefs and morality on others and denying them something that isn't illegal is just plain wrong.

[ST88]

Let's be clear here. Because there's a very subtle distinction.

It's true that an employer can be sued for dismissal or discrimination based on religion. It's also true that a person's appearance can be a factor when deciding who to hire for a particular job (e.g., an obese person can be turned down for a job in a health club, a punker can be turned down for a job as a media spokesperson, a man can be turned down for a job as a waiter at Hooters, etc.). Appearance can be something the person either can or cannot control. (I use the initial interview in order to show the example.) If one is in the job, and the job changes, then it is up to the individual whether or not the changes are acceptable. After all, the employer has the right to define a position.

I don't think it matters if religion is a choice or not, as the above situations imply.

The ADA says that an employer must make reasonable accomodation for someone with physical disabilities. The key word here being reasonable. It doesn't mean that you can force an employer to employ a blind person as a driving instructor.

Let's say that a food company employs tasters for their new and upcoming products. It has a panel of thirty people tasting various vegetarian dishes for their all-vegetarian food product lineup. After about a year, the company shifts direction and now all their food products become all-pork all the time. Any Jewish and Muslim people on the panel are no longer willing/able to be tasters for this company because of this, and there are no alternative non-pork panels that they can possibly be put onto. The people are no longer useful to the company, through the fault of no one at all. Since employment in this country is at-will, the company would be justified in letting them go for their refusal to participate on the panel any longer. The discrimination is not religious because the reason for the dismissal is not a religious decision -- it was the refusal to participate in the panel. The fact that the reason for the refusal is based on religion doesn't enter into the discussion.

[Qazwa]

Peace,

I am a printer by trade and a Muslim by religion.

I feel this pain from time to time. I quit a job because I wasnt aloud to pray during working hours. I drew the line there.

However, Not everything I print is keeping with my beliefs. Such as smutt books.

The only way I see to escape this is to move to South Africa. A person can be seantanced to 2 years in prision for having X rated books on hand.

I can pray at my curent job because my supervisor is a Muslim and she understands my needs. I can pray for forgiveness for printing smutt books. LOL

Qazwa

[Jose]

Along the same lines, we had a creationist in our typing office long ago, when typewriters existed. She refused to type manuscripts that were about evolution. The office manager, an extremely clever and wonderful woman, helped her resolve the problem. She said "just type them; don't read them."

Personally, I don't know what I'd do. My job and my faith are compatible. I would try to be understanding, as an employer, to employees for whom they are not. But then, I say this because it sounds good, and I think I'd be able to do it, but the issue has never come up.

[juliod]

"Should a person be allowed to refuse to perform a portion of his or her job due to religious values?"

Yes, but only to a degree. I agree with the law on this. Employers are required to make reasonable accommodations for employee religious needs.

Note that the standard is "reasonable". They are not required to retain employees whose religion creates a significant disruption, or makes them manifestly unsuitable for the job.

As for the example, it won't be a real issue if other pharmacists are available to fill those particular prescriptions. That's a reasonable accommodation. But it is also a question of professional ethics. A pharmacist is not ethically allowed to run interference on the treatment given to a patient by a physician.

OTOH, the question might really be can a company use employee preference as a screen to renege on their obligations. A pharmacy that accepts prescriptions from a healthcare provider must maintain the formulary that they have agreed to.

DanZ

[Excel]

I say it depends. In the case of pharaceuticals, a pharmacist distributing birth control is not a stretch of logic. It might be different if the portion of the job is something that isn't usually preformed i.e. a Muslim shouldn't have to cook the (pork) hotdogs at the company bbq (assuming its not a catering company).

[Bugmaster]

Should a person be allowed to refuse to perform a portion of his or her job due to religious values?

Shouldn't the individual employers make that choice on their own ? Who are we to tell them what to do ?

At the end of the day, if the person does his job badly, he gets fired, regardless of why he does it badly. It's a common-sense business practice.

[Jose]

At the end of the day, if the person does his job badly, he gets fired, regardless of why he does it badly. It's a common-sense business practice.

Ah, but by whose definition of "badly"? The pharmacist who refuses to fill a prescription (say, for the anti-estrogen that prevents implantation of an embryo) believes he is doing his job in the best possible way. The physician and the patient believe the pharmacist is doing a horrible job. A judge who insists on posting the 10 commandments in the courthouse thinks he is doing a terriffic job, but the public who do not share his particular interpretation of his particular fiath believe he is a knucklehead and is not doing his job.

So, a "common sense" business practice isn't so common-sense. As with everything else in life, it's not black-and-white. Everything is more complicated than that.

Let's try this as a model, and see how we feel:

The local cable TV company supplies TV reception to everyone. A storm goes through Saturday night, and the cable doesn't work. Now, where I live, the cable guys are out there in minutes if someone calls up with a problem, as if TV is a Really Big Deal. Well, suppose the Sunday after the storm is Superbowl Sunday...but they can't get the cables fixed until after the game, because too many of their employees went to church.

Are Bill and Joe going to get angry about missing the game, or are they going to applaud the cable company for having such devout employees?

[Nyril]

Are Bill and Joe going to get angry about missing the game, or are they going to applaud the cable company for having such devout employees?

This job exists, and 2 of my coworkers were tricked into it. Its known as being "on-call". I had to carry the stupid on call cell phone for a week or so, so I know the pain. However, as it works, you schedule someone to be on call during certain periods of time. If your religion prohibits you from leaving under -any- circumstances (as in your scenario) during that Sunday window, you do not sign up for a job which requires you to drop anything you're doing during that window of time.

Its the same situation as in the Pharmacy. If you're afraid you can't commit to that particular task, work it out in your contract so something that's likely to happen doesn't hurt your employment record.