items of interest November 17, 2003 Issue

Corporation settles suit to accommodate Muslim prayer requirements

Julie Forster

St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)

"The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has reached a settlement with the Electrolux Group over a charge that the company's Muslim employees were being disciplined for taking prayer breaks. . . . The case was initiated about a year ago when the Somali Community Center in Minneapolis filed a discrimination charge on behalf of 165 Somali workers who worked on the assembly line at the Electrolux Home Products plant in St. Cloud [, Minnesota]. The workers claimed they were discriminated against because of their religious beliefs, said the EEOC. Under the tenets of the Islamic faith, Muslims must offer at least five daily prayers. The Sunset Prayer must be observed within 90 minutes of the sunset....

"'Some of our employees expressed concern about their abilities to conform to their requirement for prayer,' said Tony Evans, vice president corporate communications for Electrolux North America. 'Together with the EEOC we were able to work out an accommodation to help them meet those requirements.' As part of the agreement, the company will change the break time, allowing Muslim employees to observe their sunset prayer, which generally takes five minutes."

Julie Forster
"Electrolux works out prayer breaks"
St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)
September 25, 2003

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