Washington state law prohibits employers from discriminating against employees in compensation or terms or conditions of employment because of age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, national origin, veteran status, or disability. This case raises the issue of whether a failure to make reasonable accommodation for an employee's sincere religious beliefs is implied in the statute.
On September 28, President Obama picked up the phone and called Iranian President Rouhani who was traveling back to JFK airport after speaking at the United Nations in New York. In addition to discussing Iran's nuclear-enrichment program, the presidents spoke about Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, who was arrested because of his faith while visiting Iran over a year ago. This was the first time since the Islamic revolution of 1979 that a U.S. President has spoken with an Iranian president. Secretary of State John Kerry and the U.S. Congress have also been calling for Pastor Saeed's release.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit on September 23 against Consol Energy on behalf of a Christian who refused to sign into work using a biometric hand scanner
Not that long ago our communities instinctively understood that religion was a positive force. Barry Bussey briefly introduces what it is about religion that our forefathers and mothers thought was not only important but essential.
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.
— Robert H. Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)