If it could violate your religious views, don't take the job!

[Engyo]

July 20, 2010

'Next stop: Planned Parenthood'... but not with this driver

An Austin bus driver who was fired for refusing to drive a passenger to Planned Parenthood is suing his employer for religious discrimination.

According to the Austin American-Statesmen, the driver identifies as "an ordained Christian minister who is opposed to abortion," and he called his supervisor to say he couldn't in good conscience take someone to have an abortion at the clinic. The supervisor took that as his resignation.

Last week, Edwin Graning filed a suit against the Capital Area Rural Transportation System at a federal district court in Austin, seven months after his dismissal. He argues that the system violated the protections against employment discrimination based on religion in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

"Graning is seeking reinstatement, back pay and undisclosed damages for pain, suffering and emotion distress....," the Austin paper reported. "A labor law professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said the case could hinge on whether Graning had made it clear ahead of time that his religious views would prevent him from taking someone to an abortion."

Graning is being represented by the American Center for Law and Justice, a group dedicated to protecting "God-given rights," specifically the free speech rights of anti-abortion demonstrators. The group was founded by Pat Robertson.

'Next stop: Planned Parenthood'... but not with this driver | Believe It or Not | HoustonBelief.com

 

[Kilgore Trout]

If you don't want to do your job, how do you expect to keep it?

 

[Engyo]

If you don't want to do your job, how do you expect to keep it?

I keep asking that about our lawmakers who refuse to do the country's business.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I keep asking that about our lawmakers who refuse to do the country's business.

If an employee is messing up, it's up to the boss to get rid of them.

 

[ChristineES]

You think it would be common sense for me not to get a job at a Planned Parenthood clinic. But to deny someone a ride on the bus? I would never do such a thing.

 

[Eliot Wild]

I am all for it. Think about it.

If this minister's case is successful, it will establish a precedent. Then we can all sit around and do absolutely nothing that our jobs require, claiming all duties and responsibilities conflict with our personal religious views.

What a country . . . get paid to do nothing if the work you were hired for runs afoul of your religion.

 

[Smoke]

What an idiot.

 

[PivotalSyntax]

Although I feel the need to respect his religious views, I don't believe the case can be settled in his favor, because, as Eliot has stated, of the precedent it would cause. I understand how he can feel guilty about driving someone to an abortion clinic, but if something such as this is unsettling he should have pointed it out to the employer first. That or he could have just dropped the lady off next door instead of the actual clinic. The problem with this case is that it's between trivial and non-trivial. And the precedent of the case would cause a riot of trivial cases. I think he should get his job back.

 

[Revoltingest]

Back in my university days, I had a job as a sexton (no, not what you think) at a Methodist Church. I'm glad they
never asked me to fill in for the minister, cuz I might have had a problem with preaching there....or vice versa.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

What a moron. It's like a pharmacist not wanting to give out condoms and birth control for religious purposes. You took the job, you have obligations/responsibilities.

 

[Tarheeler]

What a moron. It's like a pharmacist not wanting to give out condoms and birth control for religious purposes. You took the job, you have obligations/responsibilities.

Well, unless it is your shop. Then the choice is yours.

But I agree that if you accept a job, you accept doing the parts you might not specifically like. I agree with the supervisor in the article, when the driver called in to inform them he wouldn't be able to make that stop, he rendered his resignation.

 

[Kathryn]

I agree with the driver's right to decide not to take the woman to Planned Parenthood - and I agree with the supervisor's right to terminate him for that decision.

When you stand your ground morally, you must be prepared to accept the consequences. Sometimes doing what you believe is right requires great personal sacrifice.

I don't think the driver's legal case has any merit.

 

[Misty]

What a moron. It's like a pharmacist not wanting to give out condoms and birth control for religious purposes. You took the job, you have obligations/responsibilities.

I totally agree. If you take on a job you can't pick and choose what you do just because it compromises religious principles. In the UK a doctor who is against abortion for instance, is obliged to pass on a patient seeking abortion to a colleague who will help the woman obtain one.

 

[Kathryn]

This is why I wouldn't own or manage a hotel, or a video store, or a tobacco shop.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I agree with the driver's right to decide not to take the woman to Planned Parenthood - and I agree with the supervisor's right to terminate him for that decision.

The implication of the driver's "right" to decide not to take the woman to Planned Parenthood implies that the woman doesn't have the right to travel to Planned Parenthood any time she happens to have a bus driver who is offended by the idea. The driver may get fired for his actions, but she still doesn't get to her clinic. Do you agree with this?

 

[Kathryn]

The implication of the driver's "right" to decide not to take the woman to Planned Parenthood implies that the woman doesn't have the right to travel to Planned Parenthood any time she happens to have a bus driver who is offended by the idea. The driver may get fired for his actions, but she still doesn't get to her clinic. Do you agree with this?

The woman can go to Planned Parenthood, the grocery store, or the bingo hall anytime she wants, as long as she can find someone willing to take her there, or she can get there on her own accord.

If the bus driver doesn't want to take people to Planned Parenthood, he shouldn't be driving a bus that may be required to TAKE people to Planned Parenthood. He should either ask for a different route (reasonable accommodation by the employer most likely) or he should quit his job.

He was wrong to file the lawsuit and the company was right to fire him.

Sometimes on the job, we may be suddenly faced with a moral dilemma that we honestly didn't expect to occur when we took the job. Should we then DO what we believe is wrong first, and THEN quit? Or should we refuse to do what we believe is wrong?

 

[MysticSang'ha]

I had to let a dancer go because she refused to dance with the costuming and the theme of the choreography of the piece. It was an understanding between us that this was irreconcilable (and I was bummed because she was one of the better dancers, and I had to get another performer at short notice). But I respected her decision to refuse.

It would have royally sucked if I were sued for the decision.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

The woman can go to Planned Parenthood, the grocery store, or the bingo hall anytime she wants, as long as she can find someone willing to take her there, or she can get there on her own accord.

If she has access to transit, she can get there on her own accord. A driver's "right" to suddenly refuse to carry a passenger or drive a particular route is incompatible with a transit passenger's right not to be stranded.

If the bus driver doesn't want to take people to Planned Parenthood, he shouldn't be driving a bus that may be required to TAKE people to Planned Parenthood. He should either ask for a different route (reasonable accommodation by the employer most likely) or he should quit his job.

I personally think that this would be very unreasonable accommodation if the transit agency were to indulge the driver's desire to avoid Planned Parenthood. How would his supervisor be able to schedule shifts if drivers held a veto on the routes they would drive?

Take my town: we have (IIRC) six bus routes, and they're interlined; buses will alternate between runs on one route and then another. If a driver were to refuse to drive any particular route, then they'd exclude themselves from a third of the possible driver assignments.

He was wrong to file the lawsuit and the company was right to fire him.

Sometimes on the job, we may be suddenly faced with a moral dilemma that we honestly didn't expect to occur when we took the job. Should we then DO what we believe is wrong first, and THEN quit? Or should we refuse to do what we believe is wrong?

We should do our duty and keep our promises. The transit agency assigned him, and not some other driver, on the strength of the fact that he agreed to do his job.

The bus didn't belong to him, and it's not his place to decide where it will or will not go or who it will or won't carry. He took advantage of his position to impose his ideology on people who do not share it.

If the driver has a problem with the duty he's taking on, then the time to make any sort of moral stance against it is before he accepts the duty. Once he's accepted it, he's bound to abide by it.

 

[Engyo]

Sometimes on the job, we may be suddenly faced with a moral dilemma that we honestly didn't expect to occur when we took the job. Should we then DO what we believe is wrong first, and THEN quit? Or should we refuse to do what we believe is wrong?

This, I believe, is a decision each person must make for themselves. I know there are some assignments which I could potentially be given that I would most likely refuse; understanding beforehand that refusal may very well mean that in refusing I am also resigning.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

This, I believe, is a decision each person must make for themselves. I know there are some assignments which I could potentially be given that I would most likely refuse; understanding beforehand that refusal may very well mean that in refusing I am also resigning.

And personally, I've done that. I've quit one job over moral issues.

However, I did it by tendering my resignation and giving proper notice. I didn't just walk out without warning, with projects unfinished and leaving other people holding the bag.