Yep. Anyone is free to choose to follow whatever religion they want, but it shouldn't give them special treatment over anyone else.
Ramadan in the work place .
- Thread starter Bald-Eagle22
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Yep. Anyone is free to choose to follow whatever religion they want, but it shouldn't give them special treatment over anyone else.
obviously as you say the guys an asset to the company try and come and go a bit.
drag him in and explain that your cant just give him a month off without a fair bit of notice, and try and reach a compromise with the fella. maybe half and half you can?
if the guy really is as good as you say he's obviously worth keeping hold of so try and have a bit of come and go even if you can offer him a week or 2 off dont listen the the folks above who are blinkered with the islamaphobia. the boy obviously takes his religion seriously and you really should try and accomodate as much as you can. fair enough the business has operational requirements that you need to meet but theres no reason why you cant reach a compromise and sort something out
do what you can for him and i'm sure you'll find you'll be repaid 10 times over
look at it from another angle, if someone was to phone you and say there mother/brother/son/goldfish was seriously ill would you approach it the same way? the boys doing the right thing and actually being honest with you, a lot of people would have just taken it and hit you with some bull**** story as to why they were off
drag him in and explain that your cant just give him a month off without a fair bit of notice, and try and reach a compromise with the fella. maybe half and half you can?
if the guy really is as good as you say he's obviously worth keeping hold of so try and have a bit of come and go even if you can offer him a week or 2 off dont listen the the folks above who are blinkered with the islamaphobia. the boy obviously takes his religion seriously and you really should try and accomodate as much as you can. fair enough the business has operational requirements that you need to meet but theres no reason why you cant reach a compromise and sort something out
do what you can for him and i'm sure you'll find you'll be repaid 10 times over
look at it from another angle, if someone was to phone you and say there mother/brother/son/goldfish was seriously ill would you approach it the same way? the boys doing the right thing and actually being honest with you, a lot of people would have just taken it and hit you with some bull**** story as to why they were off
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the boys not asking for special treatment really, now if he was asking for it off as paid time off in addition to his holidays that would be asking for special treatment but from my understanding of the above he wants it unpaid to be able to do his religiony stuff. far play theres people take unpaid leave for all kinds of reason and in fairness if he wants to take time off to do his islamy stuff then if the company can accomodate his request i wouldnt see a problem
Soldato
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Give him an inch he will take a mile. If he has a month off now, he will expect it every year, with every other "person of the frendly religion" your company employs.
From a vaguely more legal perspective (though my employment law getting on for 2 years old so is rusty and patchwork) you need to avoid directly or indirectly discriminating against him based on his religion. Presumably any employee asking for time off like this would be denied because the leave has been decided already? If you are being accommodating and not preventing him from eating (since he'll be very hungry by 10pm) it would be difficult for him to raise a discrimination argument.
- He only works 3 nights a week
- He only works 5 hours a night
- You're letting him eat during those 5 hours so it would be extremely tough to argue that you were discriminating against him based on religion, plus
- Leave like this would be denied to any employee, regardless of race, and the system that would deny this leave hasn't been set up to indirectly discriminate against Muslims (presumably)
as long as its unpaid i can't see many people wanting to do it.
Pretty much yes. Certain religions ask for special treatment which is up to the company to be accommodating or not. I personally wouldn't give anyone time off for some or other religious reason if I cannot cope without the worker. If he insist, it gives me ground for a disciplinary or ultimately dismissal. I'll insist on a union representative being present for the employee so that a tribunal is unlikely later on. We have had cases like this in the past and it's always the employee that leaves bitter with no case.
No special treatment, sorry. If so, I can be a Jedi or Druid and start making stupid demands. Everyone treated fairly, everyone treated equally.
I'd assume that as long as he is allowed to take those prayer breaks, there isn't really a religious commitment he's missing out on, only the socialising aspect of fast breaking.
Since he only works 3 evenings a week anyway he can probably suck it up. He should have booked his time off earlier.
If my company was operational over Christmas and I'd left it until a week before to ask for time off, they'd be well within their rights to deny it if there was no cover available.
Since he only works 3 evenings a week anyway he can probably suck it up. He should have booked his time off earlier.
If my company was operational over Christmas and I'd left it until a week before to ask for time off, they'd be well within their rights to deny it if there was no cover available.
Why has he only just asked for it? He knew roughly when Ramadan would be last year. He STILL wont know the exact dates.
Let him take his break as early as he wants so then he can still observe Ramadan properly - I can't see that harming the company and gives him no case really.
Let him take his break as early as he wants so then he can still observe Ramadan properly - I can't see that harming the company and gives him no case really.
Because he is hoping the OP would be forced into giving him paid time off and then take paid annual leave in August as planned. Win win. Won't be the first time people try and get nothing for free. Usually if I have to deal with such people in the office I tell them to **** off (not in as many words) without even engaging in any conversation or taking my eyes off the computer screen.
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Deleted member 54091
Deleted member 54091
some muslims just use ramadan as an excuse not to work.
ramadan is fasting from food not work.
ramadan is fasting from food not work.
Deleted member 54091
Deleted member 54091
People work in Muslim Countries. The countries don't come to a halt because of ramadan.
In Ramadhan there are special prayers every night that people do at the mosque (in this country anyway). They come about 2 hours after breaking your fast and can last an hour or more. He probably wants the time off because breaking fast and this prayer is in the middle of all his shift.
However if you refuse then it should not be particularly outrageous for him. These prayers are not compulsory and if he really wants to do them he can do them after his shift ends. He will need to break his fast during his shift though and thats something that you could allow him to do.
He is lucky you are even considering this. I am a muslim hospital doctor with a 9-5 shift and on calls some days and I will be fasting. Its going to be hard and I am dreading it but its something I have to get on with. At school and uni it was the same and no one gave me any special arrangements.
However if you refuse then it should not be particularly outrageous for him. These prayers are not compulsory and if he really wants to do them he can do them after his shift ends. He will need to break his fast during his shift though and thats something that you could allow him to do.
He is lucky you are even considering this. I am a muslim hospital doctor with a 9-5 shift and on calls some days and I will be fasting. Its going to be hard and I am dreading it but its something I have to get on with. At school and uni it was the same and no one gave me any special arrangements.
Soldato
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The whole point of Ramadan is to make people appreciate something they usually take for granted. Therefore it's a bit meaningless if you counterbalance the fasting by not working.
SUPER-A-male detected. I got scared even reading that!
On topic now, the only thing I got to say to the OP is to doublecheck with professional legal advice as these things can get ugly for the silliest of reasons. The advice in this thread has been useful I suppose but since no one is a solicitor (unless I missed something) you'd better consult someone who is.
Time off for ramadan... wtf... I have had two good friends that did Ramadan years and they NEVER needed to take time from school or work. I would say no if it's even remotely going to affect anything from an operational standpoint.