Hertz Fires 26 Muslim Drivers

[Orleander]

I was all for this until I read about the smokers. Fair is fair and Hertz screwed the pooch on this.

SEATTLE -- Car rental firm Hertz fired 26 employees at its Sea-Tac Airport location for failing to clock out when they take their prayer breaks.

The employees say Hertz is trampling on their right to religious freedom, but the company says it's merely trying to promote fairness in the workplace.

"We feel like we're being punished for what we believe in," said former Hertz employee Ileys Omar.

Omar is a Muslim who prays five times a day. In the past, Muslim employees at Hertz paused for their prayers without clocking out.

"It's five minutes. It's not as big deal as the company's making it," Omar said.

But Hertz says some employees were abusing their privilege to pray. In an e-mail, spokesman Richard Broome said the abuse "had become a significant problem creating issues of fairness among employees."....

...Then on Sept. 30, Hertz posted a new policy that states all rest and meal periods must be punched, including all religious observation, according to the union.

"The company unilaterally implemented this policy to clock in and out, and specifically identified prayer breaks in their policy. They have not applied the policy to people who take smoke breaks," Thompson said...

 

[milkweed]

Hertz said clocking out is required for all breaks, and it is now enforcing that policy to prevent abuse.

I am just guessing, but it could be smoke breaks were fluid and only when you were not driving anyways. As I understand it, prayer breaks are at specific times, meaning prayer breaks interrupt job duties.

 

[Orleander]

ah, that's a good point milkweed.

 

[Shadow1]

First, a pray doesnt take more than 5 minutes at a maxium time.
Second, a pray can be done in later times, if the employee is very busy with work and can't interrupt (and if other employees can cover those 5 minutes, it would be ok).
It's something that they can solve it between themselves, they can find better solutions together than imposing laws on that 5 min break.

 

[S.A.M.]

Is Hertz open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? What about Ramadan? When is their weekly off?

 

[quadraphonics]

Is Hertz open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? What about Ramadan?

Of course. All major rental car companies are open on those days - they're major travel times.

 

[CptBork]

Teamsters Union 117 is going to bat for these fired employees- they will either get their jobs back, or financial compensation even better than the working pay, or else there's going to be a very long and tiresome legal battle which will not work to Hertz's advantage.

Firstly, I don't see any justification for firing these guys without due advance notice that the company's policies were changing, i.e. I didn't read anything about them not clocking out after the policy change. Secondly, from the standpoint of company performance, a religious break is never worse than a smoke break under any circumstances, whereas the latter can be argued to be worse because of the residual smoke smell, physical health, and overall company image. Unless I'm missing some crucial details here, the easiest way out is for Hertz to apologize to those who were fired, offer them their jobs back and compensation for whatever wages were lost plus a small bonus for the trouble, and to make it abundantly clear that all employees must now clock out whenever leaving the job for any reason. Then everyone goes home happy and the whole thing blows over.

Oh and another thing about hiring Muslims, which Shadow brought up: It's never a bad thing to retain strong levels of staff who don't mind working during busy holidays when most others might not be so inclined. Big time breadwinner for the company to have lots of non-Christian staff working through Christmas, and I'm sure they fully realize that.

 

[S.A.M.]

Of course. All major rental car companies are open on those days - they're major travel times.

I wondered if the reason they had 70% Muslim drivers at SeaTac was due to the other employees not working on their religious holidays

 

[quadraphonics]

I wondered if the reason they had 70% Muslim drivers at SeaTac was due to the other employees not working on their religious holidays

I think it has more to do with the fact that nobody except refugees (all of the drivers in question are Somalis of recent extraction) is particularly willing to work for $9 an hour. Many menial job fields where I live are likewise overwhelmingly staffed by Somalis and other recent arrivals from east Africa (night watchment, cab drivers, etc.).

 

[Cowboy]

If people are taking breaks when they could be working (meaning there were potential customers wandering by), I could see it being considered "stealing time" from the company. And this would apply to people who are praying, smoking cigarettes, or talking on their cell phones.

I don't see the problem with someone praying, smoking or chatting while waiting for potential customers to show up.

 

[GeoffP]

Teamsters Union 117 is going to bat for these fired employees- they will either get their jobs back, or financial compensation even better than the working pay, or else there's going to be a very long and tiresome legal battle which will not work to Hertz's advantage.

Firstly, I don't see any justification for firing these guys without due advance notice that the company's policies were changing, i.e. I didn't read anything about them not clocking out after the policy change. Secondly, from the standpoint of company performance, a religious break is never worse than a smoke break under any circumstances, whereas the latter can be argued to be worse because of the residual smoke smell, physical health, and overall company image. Unless I'm missing some crucial details here, the easiest way out is for Hertz to apologize to those who were fired, offer them their jobs back and compensation for whatever wages were lost plus a small bonus for the trouble, and to make it abundantly clear that all employees must now clock out whenever leaving the job for any reason. Then everyone goes home happy and the whole thing blows over.

Oh and another thing about hiring Muslims, which Shadow brought up: It's never a bad thing to retain strong levels of staff who don't mind working during busy holidays when most others might not be so inclined. Big time breadwinner for the company to have lots of non-Christian staff working through Christmas, and I'm sure they fully realize that.

Hear hear.

 

[cosmictraveler]

Funny that we didn't hear about these drivers being hired by Hertz isn't it? :shrug:

 

[CptBork]

Funny that we didn't hear about these drivers being hired by Hertz isn't it? :shrug:

Well has anyone bothered to do a followup? I just looked around and have only found articles dating to the original firing. Might take a while to get this thing resolved depending on where the legal battle goes, plus the issue hasn't sparked much of a discourse in general.

 

[adoucette]

The policy to clock out for breaks and lunches was started Sept 30th.
It had nothing to do with pay, as they were paid while on their breaks, but the length of break was now a matter of record.
Hertz's issue, and the reason they wanted the record, was that Hertz said the two 10 minute prayer breaks were being exceeded.

The suspensions didn't come until a week after the new rule was posted and only when the drivers willfully disobeyed the policy of not clocking out for their break.

Two weeks later, after negotiations, 8 drivers who agreed to clock out on their breaks retained their jobs.
Those who refused to do so were fired.

It would appear the fired drivers have little to bitch about, since it appears they simply refused to clock in/out, which is probably why the story died.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016429949_hertz07m.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-20123683/hertz-fires-muslims-for-not-clocking-out-to-pray/

 

[CptBork]

It would appear the fired drivers have little to bitch about, since it appears they simply refused to clock in/out, which is probably why the story died.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016429949_hertz07m.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-20123683/hertz-fires-muslims-for-not-clocking-out-to-pray/

Thanks for the additional info, that's actually helpful for getting the full story out. I imagine it's being battled out in courts or negotiations right now, but the drivers might lose the case if indeed they were willfully disobeying company policy after receiving due notice. On the other hand, the union representing them is claiming that Hertz promised not to make an issue about clocking out for short breaks when they negotiated their most recent labour contract.

BTW do Somali drivers in the US only make $9/hour? They must be getting a ton of grouchy customers with poor tipping etiquette. I always tip well if the driver was pleasant, accomodating and efficient in their task, it's nice to see them crack a smile when they know they'll have a few extra bucks to throw around when it's time to relax after a long hard day.