Religious Restrictions on Non-Religious Workers

[nicka1981]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York.
My mother's employer is Jewish and very religious. He is forbidding all employees (including non-Jewish ones) to eat non-Kosher food in the office. Kosher food however can be eaten. Is that legal?

 

[LeeHarveyBlotto]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York.
My mother's employer is Jewish and very religious. He is forbidding all employees (including non-Jewish ones) to eat non-Kosher food in the office. Kosher food however can be eaten. Is that legal?

Unless mom's religion requires her to eat non-Kosher food, I'll say yes.

 

[swalsh411]

Eat lunch off the property.

Is he inspecting everybody's food? That's disgusting.

My understand of jewish law is that jews shouldn't care what other people eat because Kosher laws are for jews.

 

[eerelations]

It's legal.

 

[davew128]

It's legal.

and a good reason to find another employer.

 

[justalayman]

and a good reason to find another employer.

to find another employer? Why would that be? Don't you think that if you objected to what your employees ate you would have a right to demand they not eat it at your business?




additionally, depending on the type of business, bringing non-Kosher foods into the business my jeopardize the product provided by the business. They can be quite strict sometimes when putting the Kosher blessing (figuratively since there is no actual blessing concerning Kosher foods) on food products.

and given that it is not really all that difficult for food to be Kosher, it really is not that much of a limitation anyway.



but here's one for ya; ever been around Indian cuisine? Do you enjoy that overpowering smell of curry? Ya bring that into a place and heat it up and you will find even the guy with the fish in the microwave for lunch wanting you to leave.

 

[cbg]

The bottom line is, the employer has the right to restrict what is and is not brought into his workplace.

 

[nicka1981]

Thank you for the answers. To clarify the situation (though it is probably irrelevant). What they eat in the office has nothing to do with nature of the business (publishing). She can eat outside but more often than not she has no time for that due to high workload.

 

[LdiJ]

The bottom line is, the employer has the right to restrict what is and is not brought into his workplace.

I don't disagree...but I have this niggling thing going in the back of my head that wonders if the employer is discriminating based on religion. Requiring all employees to "keep Kosher" could possibly be religious discrimination if they don't have sufficient time to get and eat lunch outside.

 

[cbg]

No, the employer is not discriminating based on religion. ALL employees without exception are held to the same restriction. There is no guaranteed right under the law to bring whatever food you like into the workplace. The employees are free to eat all the non-Kosher food they want to when they're not at work.

 

[swalsh411]

I think religious laws about what you can and cannot eat are deserving of ridicule, triple so if forced on others who don't share your faith.

 

[cbg]

Fine. You are entitled to your opinion.

However, the fact remains that this is not illegal discrimination as defined by law. Which was the OP's question.

 

[>Charlotte<]

jews shouldn't care what other people eat because Kosher laws are for jews.

I don't think this is so much the employer wanting the employees to practice Judaism as it is his needing their cooperation so he can keep kosher. From my (very superficial) understanding, kosher households have two sets of plates, flatware, cookware, even two refrigerators because certain foods can't be combined in any way. I'm not 100% sure about this one, but I think you can't even wash a plate that held meat in the same sink in which you've washed a plate that held dairy. It's possible that if employees eat non-kosher food in the office, the boss runs the risk of somehow coming into contact with it which would break (kasrut, I think it's called?). Such as, if a tiny drop of moisture from a shrimp got on a surface. I've always thought it sounds exhausting to be Jewish, but God bless 'em.

* Looks like I'm wrong about the sink thing in case anybody is wondering. Yeah, prob'ly not.

 

[swalsh411]

I don't think this is so much the employer wanting the employees to practice Judaism as it is his needing their cooperation so he can keep kosher. From my (very superficial) understanding, kosher households have two sets of plates, flatware, cookware, even two refrigerators because certain foods can't be combined in any way. I'm not 100% sure about this one, but I think you can't even wash a plate that held meat in the same sink in which you've washed a plate that held dairy. It's possible that if employees eat non-kosher food in the office, the boss runs the risk of somehow coming into contact with it which would break (kasrut, I think it's called?). Such as, if a tiny drop of moisture from a shrimp got on a surface. I've always thought it sounds exhausting to be Jewish, but God bless 'em.

* Looks like I'm wrong about the sink thing in case anybody is wondering. Yeah, prob'ly not.

And all that is capital D U M B DUMB. They have a right to practice it, and I have a right to think it's laughable.

 

[>Charlotte<]

I have a right to think it's laughable.

And getting back to the point, so does OP's mother.