Hertz suspends praying Muslim shuttle drivers (All Somalis)

[Baashi]

Thirty-four Somali Muslims who drive airport shuttle buses for Hertz were suspended Friday over a dispute over praying on the job.

 

By Lornet Turnbull

Seattle Times staff reporter

 

In the three years she's worked as a shuttle driver for Hertz at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Zainab Aweis, had always taken time out of her shift each day to pray.

 

An observant Muslim, she prays five times a day — with one, sometimes two of those prayer times falling during her shift.

 

"That was the one benefit of the job," the 20-year-old said.

 

On Friday, she and 33 other drivers — all of them Somali Muslims — were suspended indefinitely from their jobs after they took religious breaks to pray while at work without first clocking out.

 

A spokesman for Teamsters Local 117, which represents the workers, said it is trying to get the workers back on the job.

 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016429949_hertz07m.html

 

Both the company and the union late Thursday said they were waiting to hear back from the other.

 

While the drivers were allowed two, 10-minute breaks during their work shifts during which they could pray, Teamsters officials said managers had agreed in negotiations that workers would not have to clock out and in, though the contact itself does not address the matter.

 

And the workers and their union said Hertz had previously not required that workers clock out for prayer. The union said it has filed an unfair-labor-practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Hertz for failing to notify the union in advance of what it called a policy change.

 

But Hertz said the rules aren't new; that it had been trying for some time to enforce the terms of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settlement it reached with the workers two years ago that required them to clock out.

 

A Hertz spokesman said the workers had been repeatedly told they needed to clock out and that the 34 suspended workers had not complied.

 

"We felt it was reasonable for our Muslim employees who need to pray a couple times during the workday to clock in and clock out," said Rich Broome, spokesman for Hertz.

 

Broome said it's not about pay — break time is paid time — but to ensure that workers were staying within the 10-minute time slots, which has been a problem.

 

He pointed out that Muslim workers who clocked out were not suspended.

 

On Wednesday, a few dozen people from area labor and faith organizations protested on behalf of the workers outside the Hertz counter at the airport, waving signs saying, "Respect me, Respect my religion."

 

The Teamsters represents about 79 drivers at Hertz — about 70 percent of whom are Muslim — earning between $9.15 and $9.95 an hour. They receive no health benefits, vacation or sick leave.

 

Aweis said she was not aware the rules had changed until she arrived at work on Friday and managers told her and six other women who were about to pray that several other workers had been sent home that day for praying.

 

"He said, 'If you guys pray, you go home,' " Aweis recalled.

 

"I said, 'Is that a new rule?' And he said, 'yes.' "

 

They prayed anyway, she said, contending that managers stood over them taunting and disrupting them.

 

"I like the job," Aweis said. "But if I can't pray, I don't see the benefit."

 

Mohamed Hassan, of the Somali Community Services Coalition, said the workers cannot afford to be away from their jobs. "They need to pay rent and buy food for their children."

 

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com

[Baashi]

Union will fight for these folks. System works. Hopefully all of them will be back to work soon. Only in America can one argue with employer who is not Muslim over a prayer.

[N.O.R.F]

Times are hard so paying for the ten minutes for alot of employees to pray 2 or 3 time a day adds up. Is it really unreasonable to clock out for 10 minutes to stay in work, get paid and provide for the family? I think some perspective is required here.

[grasshopper]

"Broome said it's not about pay — break time is paid time — but to ensure that workers were staying within the 10-minute time slots, which has been a problem.

Not to be the devil's advocate but when I read this, I thought it was damn reasonable...what's the big deal about clocking out before praying?

 

But then when I read this part: "He said, 'If you guys pray, you go home,' " Aweis recalled I thought, that doesn't add up...it sounds like it's about the prayer itself and not the clocking out issue.

 

 

If it is just about clocking out, the workers need to respect the rules and clock out before they pray..simple..

[Alderman]

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/reader_feedback/public/display.php?source_name=mbase&source_id=2016429949&offset=0&direction=DESC&column=rating

 

See the high rating comments and you can see what the locals think of it.

[burahadeer]

They need to work for their living & pray their brake time(qale).No baby sitting here; everyone has religion,why muslims always have nonesenical issues.Why they stick their head up in christian country & turn people againest thm.

[Boom Boom]

Why are we the only muslim community that makes these kind of problems? There was a situation with Minnesota taxi drivers and dogs and people not wanting to touch meat. There was this other ridiculous story in Toronto were suing because they couldn't wear a jilbab.

 

Man, oh, man. Somalis love media attention. Every other community blends in but we always choose to stand out for all the wrong reaons.

[Jacpher]

^We? You Somali?

 

The union will get them reinstated. Glad they stood up for their religious rights.

[chubacka]

Boom Boom;750350 wrote:

Man, oh, man. Somalis love media attention. Every other community blends in but we always choose to stand out for all the wrong reaons.

If blending in means keeping quiet and being afraid to fulfil the tenents of your faith though they may seem alien to others then I see that as wrong and cowardly and not these people who are trying to hold on to their faith in tough conditions.

 

If the company has asked them to clock out while they pray that seems very reasonable.

[Baashi]

chubacka;750359 wrote:

If the company has asked them to clock out while they pray that seems very reasonable.

Other nomads made comments similar to yours, chubacka. Here is the catch though. The low wage jobs have 15, 15, 30 minutes breaks slots, on avergare, in a given shift. Friday prayer takes an hour and half minimum excluding commute, parking time.

 

Hertz is in the clear here. The company have every right to demand adherence to work schedule and rules.

 

You see there are two sides to the issue.

 

Now one has to resolve the issue amicably without granstanding. I know nomads who managed to get prayer breaks and make up the time they are out for prayer.

[BoldNewSomali]

The union will no doubt file a grievance on this matter and Hertz will have to establish that it had just cause in suspending the employees. If this case goes to arbitration, which is something that most union contracts require the company to participate in, the arbitrator will most likely be looking at a few things.

 

1) Did the employer give sufficient notice of the rule?

2) Was the rule reasonably related to the efficient running of the business?

3) Was the severity of punishment (in this case a suspension) reasonably related to the level of alleged offense?

 

The union will have to prove that there was an established past practice of not having to clock out and that furthermore there was no rule. If the union can prove those two things then these folks will be getting back pay and win the arbitration.

But if the employer can show that it had warned the employees that they must clock out and the rule was given to employees, then this suspension will be upheld.

[chubacka]

Baashi, the article does not mention the friday prayer which as you say would take much longer than ten minutes. However most of these drivers seem to be women who are asking to pray the salats that are during the working day. Also the company says that those muslims who clocked out whilst the prayed were not asked to leave. It seems to me though that the company is over reacting.

If that is the policy they want for their workers they need to enforce it properly and tell their employees about the consequences if they ignore their rules.

I don't think these women wouldn't risk their jobs for the sake of not clocking out.

[Garnaqsi]

Boom Boom;750350 wrote:

Why are we the only muslim community that makes these kind of problems? There was a situation with Minnesota taxi drivers and dogs and people not wanting to touch meat. There was this other ridiculous story in Toronto were suing because they couldn't wear a jilbab.

That's exactly what came to my mind when I was reading the article.

 

[Mustafe]

Hertz is over-reacting in this case by sacking that many people, I'm sure they had other options to resolve this issue. But, at the end of the day its the Somalis' fault that the problem even escalated to this point. If I know Somalis, my guess is that one hot headed dude or duddette took the p!ss with one of the managers regarding clocking out/in, and the rest of them probably sided with the brother/sister because they are Somalis and always stand their ground, lol.