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Understanding observance in the workplace
Jews who keep Shabbos have every sympathy for Deidre Faris, a Seventh Day Adventist who was discriminated against and fired from her job at TFD Network in Cape Town, after refusing to work on Saturdays.
SUZANNE BELLING
Before she signed her employment contract, she had pointed out to her employers that her religion prohibits her from working on a Saturday. A senior manager, Jurie Smith later told her he did not care about her religion.
Faris was awarded R60 000 compensation by Acting Justice Omphemetse Mooki, who called her humiliation in public “an affront to society”.
Labour lawyer and DA shadow deputy minister of labour Michael Bagraim told Jewish Report this “was indeed an unfair labour practice”.
However, he said he had represented a Jewish man, who “became dati (religious)” well into his employment contract.
“He worked for a bottle manufacturing plant, which only had access to the machinery on Saturdays and Sundays and he said this no longer suited him.
“They told him ‘sorry you either work or leave’. We challenged this, went to the CCMA and were going to Labour Court, but the company settled a small amount beforehand. My client did not point it out initially and only became observant later.”
Bagraim said that while his client’s case was not clearly one discrimination, he warned observant people “to speak out upfront”.
“You cannot accept the terms of employment and then change them if you change. It is like suddenly saying: ‘I cannot work Wednesday afternoons because I play golf’!”
Wendy Kahn, national director of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, said it was one of the responsibilities of the Board to assist the Jewish community in upholding its religious rights in South Africa.
“The Board works closely with Jewish students at universities around the country ensuring that they are not disadvantaged due to their religious observance.
“We engage with the universities to find ways that the students with exams scheduled on Shabbat or chagim can be accommodated.
“The SAJBD, together with the Union of Orthodox Synagogues (UOS), has also assisted newly-qualified doctors with their internship and community services placements ensuring that observant Jewish doctors are placed in a proximity to Jewish life to assist them with Shabbat and kashrut observance.