ATCO Awarded $2 million for Having to Work on Sunday
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ATCO Awarded $2 million for Having to Work on Sunday
Well, lessee, the Jews take Friday off, the Muslims take Saturday off, the Christians take Sunday off, so much for weekend ops...
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Man wins Sabbath lawsuit
Jury concludes FAA failed to accommodate beliefs
By Karen Abbott, News Staff Writer
Don Reed believes in God, and on Tuesday he said he believes in justice, too.
A federal jury awarded the former air traffic controller $2.25 million after finding that he was the victim of intentional religious discrimination by his employer.
"In a land where people sometimes question whether the term 'justice' has any meaning, I'm here to state that it still exists," a teary-eyed Reed said afterward.
The verdict, following a trial before Denver U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham, came on Reed's 45th birthday. His wife, Robin, also teary-eyed, said winning the court case was the birthday celebration.
"This is it," she said. "This is six years of hell going down the tubes. This is celebration enough."
The jury said the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency that employed Reed in Pueblo's airport tower, failed to accommodate his religious beliefs prohibiting work on the Sabbath.
Reed's nondenominational Christian church observes the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
According to testimony, Reed's bosses allowed him to have that time off without argument for several years.
Then he got a new boss, George Hof.
Hof challenged Reed's faith, at one point shouting at Reed that it was a scam and a "religion of convenience." Hof rejected several compromise plans offered by Reed and his co-workers.
In the summer of 1995, Hof insisted that Reed work six Saturdays in a row and, when Reed failed to report to work on those days, fired him.
The jury awarded Reed $248,356 in back pay and benefits, $508,088 for future pay and benefits and $1.5 million for emotional pain and suffering, inconvenience and mental anguish.
In addition, Reed's lawyers will be awarded fees and costs, estimated at about $100,000.
The case was initiated on Reed's behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Pestal, who defended the federal government in the civil suit, told Nottingham that federal law doesn't allow the $1.5 million portion of the award for emotional and mental suffering. He said the law caps such damages at $300,000. Nottingham told Pestal he can file a motion to reduce it.
Federal officials said that they were disappointed by the verdict and will review their appeal options.
The government contended that Hof couldn't accommodate Reed's Sabbath observance because the agency was short-staffed, the safety of the flying public had to be protected, preference shouldn't be shown for one employee over others and union contracts couldn't be violated -- even though, in Reed's case, the union worked to obtain religious accommodation for him.
Reed now works for a cable television company in Pueblo, arranging for local commercials to be inserted in national programming.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...752448,00.html
_______________________________________
Man wins Sabbath lawsuit
Jury concludes FAA failed to accommodate beliefs
By Karen Abbott, News Staff Writer
Don Reed believes in God, and on Tuesday he said he believes in justice, too.
A federal jury awarded the former air traffic controller $2.25 million after finding that he was the victim of intentional religious discrimination by his employer.
"In a land where people sometimes question whether the term 'justice' has any meaning, I'm here to state that it still exists," a teary-eyed Reed said afterward.
The verdict, following a trial before Denver U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham, came on Reed's 45th birthday. His wife, Robin, also teary-eyed, said winning the court case was the birthday celebration.
"This is it," she said. "This is six years of hell going down the tubes. This is celebration enough."
The jury said the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency that employed Reed in Pueblo's airport tower, failed to accommodate his religious beliefs prohibiting work on the Sabbath.
Reed's nondenominational Christian church observes the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
According to testimony, Reed's bosses allowed him to have that time off without argument for several years.
Then he got a new boss, George Hof.
Hof challenged Reed's faith, at one point shouting at Reed that it was a scam and a "religion of convenience." Hof rejected several compromise plans offered by Reed and his co-workers.
In the summer of 1995, Hof insisted that Reed work six Saturdays in a row and, when Reed failed to report to work on those days, fired him.
The jury awarded Reed $248,356 in back pay and benefits, $508,088 for future pay and benefits and $1.5 million for emotional pain and suffering, inconvenience and mental anguish.
In addition, Reed's lawyers will be awarded fees and costs, estimated at about $100,000.
The case was initiated on Reed's behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Pestal, who defended the federal government in the civil suit, told Nottingham that federal law doesn't allow the $1.5 million portion of the award for emotional and mental suffering. He said the law caps such damages at $300,000. Nottingham told Pestal he can file a motion to reduce it.
Federal officials said that they were disappointed by the verdict and will review their appeal options.
The government contended that Hof couldn't accommodate Reed's Sabbath observance because the agency was short-staffed, the safety of the flying public had to be protected, preference shouldn't be shown for one employee over others and union contracts couldn't be violated -- even though, in Reed's case, the union worked to obtain religious accommodation for him.
Reed now works for a cable television company in Pueblo, arranging for local commercials to be inserted in national programming.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...752448,00.html
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Airbubba
Now forgive me if I'm mistaken but it does seem to me that the above makes it clear that Reed was awarded this sum on the basis of being forced to work on SATURDAY and not Sunday.
That aside, a very interesting post which raises a perfectly proper human rights issue. Not quite sure how to respond to some of the more sarcastic remarks that have followed. Perhaps just a 'live and let live'.
Reed's nondenominational Christian church observes the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
That aside, a very interesting post which raises a perfectly proper human rights issue. Not quite sure how to respond to some of the more sarcastic remarks that have followed. Perhaps just a 'live and let live'.
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I think it's a load of bovine excretia.
He signed up for shiftwork, he works shifts. Simple as that.
Tillii, you talk about human rights. Doesn't the employer have a right here, to expect him to do what he signed up for. Maybe there was a Mr Nice Guy who cut him a bit of slack for a while, but that does not mean that the slack is a never-ending entitlement.
What a bunch of wallies.
AA
He signed up for shiftwork, he works shifts. Simple as that.
Tillii, you talk about human rights. Doesn't the employer have a right here, to expect him to do what he signed up for. Maybe there was a Mr Nice Guy who cut him a bit of slack for a while, but that does not mean that the slack is a never-ending entitlement.
What a bunch of wallies.
AA
