Hotel to pay dishwasher $21 million for working Sundays

A dishwasher that was fired from her job for missing work to attend church was awarded $21 million by a jury in Miami.

Marie Jean Pierre had been a dishwasher for 10 years at the Conrad Miami. For years the hotel accommodated her request that she not be scheduled for Sunday shifts due to religious beliefs. In 2016 she was fired by a new manager after they scheduled her on six Sundays, and she missed those shifts to attend church.

Could such a case happen in Canada? What are an employee’s rights to religious accommodation in the workplace?

Stan Fainzilberg is a Toronto Employment Lawyer and an associate at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP. He joined Global News Radio 640 Toronto to discuss an employer’s duty to accommodate and the relationship between the workplace and a worker’s religious beliefs.