Mediation Jobs Poised to Help Islamic Workers for Heinz

Mediation jobs have the advantage of allowing workers to deal with a huge variety of different issues from child custody mediation to business mediation.  One of the more divisive issues to arise for mediation attorneys recently is this week's dispute between Islamic workers and Dianne's Gourmet Desserts, a subsidiary of the foodservice operations run by H.J.  Heinz.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will mediate the dispute, which centers on the way in which the company dealt with religious expression in the workplace.

Mediation Jobs to Weigh Religious Freedom Issues

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Minnesota, contends that they were fired last December and were forced to leave the premises after they had asked for accommodation, so they could pray as required by their religion.  Heinz, however, claims that "no Islamic employees were terminated from their jobs for requesting prayer accommodation and none were removed forcibly."

Specific allegations by the Council include the charge that Dianne's Gourmet Desserts "created a new policy that abolished a break time used by Muslim employees to pray their evening prayer.  The employees were prohibited from praying outside of the newly implemented work breaks, which did not coincide with prayer times."

The Heinz Company affirmed that it has a strong commitment to protecting religious freedom in the workplace and specifically mentioned that the workplace in question designated prayer rooms for Islamic employees.