Dozens of Muslim employees in US quit job over prayer policy change at a company

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

Monday 18 Jan 2016 - 11:22 Makkah mean time-8-4-1437 Wisconsin, US (IINA) - Dozens of Muslim employees at a Wisconsin manufacture in USA say they are now out of job after the company changed its prayer-on-the-job policy, according to media report. Brillion-based Ariens Company changed the policy on Thursday. Until then, Muslim employees were allowed to leave the production line twice a shift to pray two of their five daily-obligatory prayers. Workers would pray 5 minutes at a time, designating their duties to colleagues while they are praying. Ariens' products include snow blowers and lawn mowers. But Ariens is now asking employees to pray during scheduled breaks. A company representative told WBAY-TV the "manufacturing environment does not allow for unscheduled breaks in production." The policy change affects 53 workers. Ten of those employees have indicated they wish to stay in their current positions under the new policy, the company said. Ariens said the company "put a considerable amount of effort into finding a solution that allows for employees of Muslim faith to pray during work hours," including meeting with members of the company's Somali employee group and consulting with local Muslim faith representatives. 'I have been 35 years in America and I’ve never heard of a company that is not allowing its employees to pray five minutes. It is absolutely discrimination on its face,' said Adan Hurr. 'Allow me to pray so that I can go back to work and do what I love to do, which is working for Ariens. But we are not allowed to do that. what happened was just a travesty,' he said. A spokesperson for the company said that they met with Somalian employees in order to suit their needs. The company 'put a considerable amount of effort into finding a solution that allows for employees of Muslim faith to pray during work hours.' On Saturday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, called on Ariens to allow Muslim workers to pray at work using the previous policy until the dispute is resolved. "These types of accommodation disputes can be resolved in a spirit of respect for constitutionally-protected religious rights and for the legitimate needs of both employees and employers," CAIR spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper said in a news release. SM/IINA