Employment at Will

Describe what steps you would take to address the following scenario involving labor and laws: The employee takes a day off from work, without management consent, for her religious holiday observance that falls on a day that is during “tax

season”. The day off occurred during an incredibly busy period for the company during which the employer had notified all employees they were not allowed to take off without prior management approval. Also, there is no labor union for accountants. However, she begins talking to her co-workers during lunch breaks and sometimes during regular work hours, encouraging them to organize and form a union to “protect ourselves”.

The steps that I would take to remedy this situation would be to review the corporation’s policy concerning absenteeism, holidays, and religious holidays with this particular employee. Then I would govern my disciplinary actions according to the policy. The case that aligns with this issue is Ansonia Board of Education ET AL. v. Philbrook ET AL. The issue in this case was whether the employer discriminated against the employee by not accommodating their religious beliefs by not allowing the time off for observance. The law concerning this issue is as follows, according to Judge C.J Rehnquist:

“Pursuant to a collective-bargaining agreement, respondent employee was allowed three days leave annually for religious observance, but was prohibited from using personal days for additional religious observance, forcing him to take time off without pay. He brought an action against petitioner employer alleging religious discrimination.”

This aligns with my case due to the employee took the day off after being instructed that they could not take that particular day. The final outcome of the case was that the employer had met its obligation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it allowed the employee to have time off even if it was to be unpaid. The employer is also mandated to try to accommodate the...