If The Choice Is Between Your Job Or A BLT, Take Your Job.

Ah…there’s nothing like knowing that most of your readers aren’t going to agree with you even before you even start writing a post. But what the heck, I’ve never let it stop me before…

“A Central Florida woman was fired from her job after eating “unclean” meat and violating a reported company policy that pork and pork products are not permissible on company premises, according to Local 6 News.

Lina Morales was hired as an administrative assistant at Rising Star — a Central Florida telecommunications company with strong Muslim ties, Local 6 News reported.

However, 10 months after being hired by Rising Star, religious differences led to her termination.

Morales, who is Catholic, was warned about eating pizza with meat the Muslim faith considered “unclean,” Local 6 News reported. She was then fired for eating a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, according to the report.

“Are you telling me they fired you because you had something with ham on it?” Local 6 News reporter Mike Holfeld asked.

“Yes,” Morales said.

…Local 6 News obtained the termination letter that states she was fired for refusing to comply with company policy that pork and pork products are not permissible on company premises.

However, by the company’s own admission to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that policy is not written, Local 6 News reported.

“Did you ever sign to or agree to anything that said I will not eat pork?” Holfeld asked Morales.

“Never,” Morales said. “When I got hired there, they said we don’t care what religion you are.”

Attorney Travis Hollifield is representing Morales in a lawsuit against the company.

“It’s just un-American,” Hollifield said. “It’s not in compliance with the laws of this country.”

…”It’s a classic case of religious discrimination,” Hollifield said. “They have not articulated a single reason other than religious reason behind the policy.”

Now, if the company said Morales had to be a Muslim to work there or if Morales’ religion mandated that she eat pork, I’d side with her.

But, as it stands, it sounds to me as if her company had every right to fire her.

If she hadn’t been informed of the policy, that might be an issue, but it sounds like she was warned previously about eating pizza in the lunch room.

Furthermore, Morales wasn’t fired because she was a Catholic or asked to do anything against her religion, so as far as I’m concerned, she doesn’t have a leg to stand on if she’s claiming “religious discrimination”. Being asked not to eat pork at work doesn’t qualify as being “persecuted for your faith” in my book.

Last but not least, while I think the idea of banning pork products at work is a bit quirky, I think Rising Star had a right to do it. Moreoever, just because you think a company’s rules and regulations are silly doesn’t mean you can just disregard them at will. In Lina Morales’ case, she decided that eating a BLT at work was more important than keeping her job. As far as I’m concerned, she made her choice and now she should have to live with the consequences.

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