When I saw the headline for this article, I knew it had immediate promise. I was not disappointed. I work in HR, and yes, we value compliance. It is makes our little hearts happy. However, you also have to work in common sense too. Sometimes supervisors (and HR people too) forget this. Was it a huge deal to accommodate this guy? In case you had to think about it, the answer is no. As the Evil HR Lady put it "it's a sticker. And therefore it is not a big deal."
Some of you lawyerly/HR-y people are probably already thinking "They risked a religious accommodation lawsuit over this?" So it appears. HR people like to think of how things will play before a jury. I can imagine it now.
Plaintiff's lawyer: Sir, can you explain why you have been forced to sue your former employer?
Plaintiff: I've been a employee with good standing for X years. I worked hard to support my family (points to extremely photogenic family members in audience). All I wanted was to stay true to my religious beliefs. As you know, many people have fought and died for us to have freedom of religion.
Jury: Bad, EVIL corporation. They must pay lots and lots of money for this.
Now the Evil HR Lady also raises another good point- "things always come out in lawsuits and it's rare that there is truly a "good and
holy" party and a "completely evil" party". Could it be that management didn't like him for some other reason and was looking for any excuse to get rid of him? I'd say that's definitely a possibility. They'd have been much better off, though, to stick to the HR mantra of "document, document, document" his problems properly. It would have taken more time, but it would have a been a lot cheaper in the end.
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