Tyson Foods and Jbs-Swift
The legal basis for the EEOC to hold that JBS-Swift had violated the employees’ civil rights by creating a hostile work environment was based on the fact that the employees of JBS-Swift were considered members of a protected class because of their race, ethnic origin, and religion. The complaints allege that supervisors and coworkers threw blood, meat, and bones at the Muslim employees and called them offensive names. It also alleged that the company discriminated against the Muslim workers when it refused to allow them to pray according to their religious beliefs. The employees were able to prove that disparate impact and treatment existed and that the company retaliated against them by firing employees when they requested that their evening break be moved so that they could break their fast and pray at sundown during the month of Ramadan, which is an Islamic holiday that requires Muslims to fast from sun up to sundown.
JBS-Swift did not make reasonable accommodation for employees’ religious beliefs when scheduling them to work. They also did not provide the option for employees to use personal leave for holiday time not specified in the employee manual.
In contrasting the solutions to the Tyson Foods situation and the JBS-Swift situation, Tyson Foods’ solution to accommodate the employees who celebrate Eid ul-Fitr involved having eight paid holidays, which included a personal holiday that had to be approved by a supervisor. JBS-Swift set up special prayer rooms at its plants and allowed Muslim workers to pray 5 times per day.
I think that JBS-Swift is likely to have the greatest positive impact on the company because it’s decision to provide a place on site and allow the employees time to pray on the job keeps the employees on-site and allows production to continue. Non-Muslim employees who do not have to pray five times daily should be given the option to use this time for a break or should be allowed to leave work at an earlier