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I answered my own question. My employee just told me that "Season's Greetings" is a euphamism for "Holiday Greetings" and she has an internal problem with her convictions to say this. I tried to GOOGLE any case law but I can't find anything easily under Title VII or ACLU rulings. I would never dismiss this employee-- I just want to document something for my very angry partner.
So you own a medical office...ask your employee why she continues to work there since blood transfusions (among other things) are against her beliefs. Also, I believe JW's don't vaccinate (someone correct me if I'm wrong). How does she justify scheduling people for medical procedures that she herself wouldn't get due to her beliefs, yet she can blithely refuse to wish a generic secular seasonal greeting to clients? The smell of hypocrisy is thick around her.
What, exactly, is the difference? She is the one on the phone conveying a greeting that goes against her beliefs. For example, let's say the were a National satan Day and you were a devout Christian, would you want to wish people a "Happy satan Day"?
If my job is to greet people on the telephone for my company, and my company caters to Satanists, and I am told to greet our Satanist customers in a way that lets them know our company will do business with them, then I will do that because that is my job.
I don't have to believe in Satan to wish Satanists "Happy Saturnalia". But it might do my business well to do so. And if I'm the boss, and I hire you to greet Satanists with "Happy Saturnalia", you better do it because that's what I hired you to do.
What she hates the product they sell, and is asked to greet the customers with "Hi, our product is AWESOME!" Should she get to bow out of that because she doesn't agree? No. Because it's her job to greet customers that way.
So you own a medical office...ask your employee why she continues to work there since blood transfusions (among other things) are against her beliefs. Also, I believe JW's don't vaccinate (someone correct me if I'm wrong). How does she justify scheduling people for medical procedures that she herself wouldn't get due to her beliefs, yet she can blithely refuse to wish a generic secular seasonal greeting to clients? The smell of hypocrisy is thick around her.
We do not work with blood products and, as a telephone receptionist, she does not vaccinate and is physically insulated on the administrative side of our medical office and does not have patient contact. We do not do "procedures" other than EKG's, urinalyses, and so forth. I don't want to sound mean-spirited but I agree that the secular greeting appears so innocuous to me that I find it tough to come to her defense (but, that's just what i did by telling my partner to leave her alone with the telephone message).
Did this lady work in your office last year? If so, was asked asked to give a holiday greeting then?
No, this woman started with us in February of this year. This is the first time in our 15+ years as a medical facility that this "issue" has been raised because to the best of our knowledge (of course, we can not be 100% certain) we have never had a JW as a receptionist. If she should ever leave, prospective employees for the position can be asked if they have an issue with "Season's Greetings", but not told why we are asking
We do not work with blood products and, as a telephone receptionist, she does not vaccinate and is physically insulated on the administrative side of our medical office and does not have patient contact. We do not do "procedures" other than EKG's, urinalyses, and so forth. I don't want to sound mean-spirited but I agree that the secular greeting appears so innocuous to me that I find it tough to come to her defense (but, that's just what i did by telling my partner to leave her alone with the telephone message).
My point is not that I think she does these procedures, the point is she is being a hypocrite if she has anything to do with processing any procedure (including administrative paperwork) that she wouldn't get herself, yet refuses to greet someone with an innocuous greeting.
In fact, she's a hypocrite merely by working for a medical office.
Do Jehovah's Witnesses have an issue with stating "Season's Greetings"? "Seasons" are not "Holidays", and if this is an amicable solution, great! However, I do not want to appear as if I am challenging her belief system or playing 20 questions. She already started crying when she heard my partner's frustration that the non-secular greeting was not permissable by her.
Adam
I think it's worth consulting with an employment lawyer on this (quietly). I realise you don't want to offend her or otherwise damage the relationship you have with your employee, but I would opt for legal advice here.
Here is an intersting case that was in the news today in the UK about freedom of speech in a place of business:
If my job is to greet people on the telephone for my company, and my company caters to Satanists, and I am told to greet our Satanist customers in a way that lets them know our company will do business with them, then I will do that because that is my job.
I don't have to believe in Satan to wish Satanists "Happy Saturnalia". But it might do my business well to do so. And if I'm the boss, and I hire you to greet Satanists with "Happy Saturnalia", you better do it because that's what I hired you to do.
What she hates the product they sell, and is asked to greet the customers with "Hi, our product is AWESOME!" Should she get to bow out of that because she doesn't agree? No. Because it's her job to greet customers that way.
Your business would cater to satanists therefore someone who was a Christian, JW, Jewish, etc. would never apply for/accept the position to begin with.
The receptionist was, indeed, hired to convey a greeting but was told her daily greeting to convey. THAT is the greeting she agreed to. I am sure had she known she would have to go against her beliefs everytime she answered the phone for approximately 5 weeks, she probably wouldn't have accepted the position.
As far as "that's what I hired you to do" that is what she is doing-conveying the greeting she was told about when hired.
I, for one, am glad to see someone standing up for what they believe in.
I think it's worth consulting with an employment lawyer on this (quietly). I realise you don't want to offend her or otherwise damage the relationship you have with your employee, but I would opt for legal advice here.
I did just that. I contacted an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) attorney (Miami, Florida). He opined that there were zero legal issues of asking the employee to announce the non-secular greeting as proposed to her. The fact that she has refused, and the fact that I said "okay" and dropped the entire request, the attorney said falls under the heading of keeping the peace if she is indeed a valued employee. I guess we choose our battles.
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