You know, being of what some people like to call an “alternative faith,” I have noted that in some cases there can be a problem when it comes to having a job. For instance, although it is not actually legal to deny someone employment based on their religion, there are a few companies that do it anyways.

A local trucking company is one of them. A friend of mine went for an interview there and during the course of the interview, the owner of the trucking company asked him about his faith. Now my friend is a Christian, so he told the owner that he is Christian and what church he attends. The owner told him that was good, that he only hired good, God-fearing employees. If you didn’t have ties to a church, you wouldn’t be hired.

Businesses like Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby also have a stand towards faith…. both are closed on Sundays with the purpose of giving employees “time for worship and family.” Last time I saw the sign on Hobby Lobby’s doors, worship was literally before family. But both businesses make sure they are closed on Sundays to allow their employees time for church. But what about those of us whose holy days aren’t just on Sundays? What about those of us who have our days scattered throughout the week? We have to ask for our holy days off, and you don’t have to give them to us. While you can’t legally fire us for asking for a day that is a holy day for us, you can still deny us the day off. I know this because it’s been done to me.

Another sticking point is that I have seen several cases of workplaces telling one employee to remove their pentacle necklace, yet allowing five or six others to keep their crosses or stars of david on their necks. I remember clearly my ex-roommate’s supervisor telling her boss that she wasn’t comfortable with Nich wearing the pentacle necklace. Her boss was actually smart about it though and told the woman that it was a religous symbol, a symbol of Nich’s faith, and that legally they could not ask her to remove it. At least he made sure he followed civil rights laws.

I’ve never had any problems relating to my faith at work. I count myself lucky. I’ve been reading about people creating “safe haven” communities for Wiccans and Pagans. I often wonder why. I’ve never experienced anything that has made me fear for my life or anything else when it comes to my faith. Have you?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Witch Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.