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| Judge: Dept. of Corrections discriminated against Jewish prison guard |
| By 9news.com - Kyle Clark |
| Published: 12/21/2011 |
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DENVER - A correctional officer fired for refusing to work on the Sabbath has been ordered to be reinstated by an administrative law judge who found he was the subject of religious discrimination. John Schutte is a Messianic Jew whose religious beliefs bar him from doing conventional work on the Sabbath - sundown Friday through sundown Saturday. Schutte appealed his 2010 firing from the Buena Vista Correctional Facility to the State Personnel Board. In an opinion dated Dec. 16, Denise DeForest ruled the Colorado Department of Corrections "unlawfully discriminated" against Schutte because of his religion. The ruling says Schutte offered reasonable alternatives to working on the Sabbath, such as splitting up his days off and swapping shifts with co-workers. The DOC was unwilling to consider those alternatives, the ruling states. The DOC, the judge wrote, refused Schutte's "requests for a reasonable accommodation because it was wary of becoming involved in a religious issue, and preferred to treat religious issues as purely personal issues." The law, said the judge, "does not permit [the DOC] to simply insist that [Schutte's] scheduling problem due to religious beliefs is only a personal problem." Read More. |
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