Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

April 2019 – The Federal District Court of Miami awarded $21.5 million to Marie Jean-Pierre, a hotel dishwasher, wrongly fired from her job when she refused to work on Sundays.

For nearly 20 years, Jean-Pierre had faithfully attended worship services at Bethel Evangelical Baptist Church, a predominantly Haitian congregation. Her attendance had never been a problem with her employer until Conrad Hotel came under new management.

Jean-Pierre refused to comply with the new policy requiring her to work on the Lord’s Day, stating that she had made her religious convictions clear to her employer from the start. Even so, she was fired in March 2016 after more than a decade of employment.

Jean-Pierre’s attorney, Marc Brumer, said the case was never about the money for his client. Instead, it was about religious freedom, protection of workers, and righting the wrong.

nbcmiami.com, 1/16/19; bpnews.net, 1/18/19