Muslim group aims to mediate with Dell
Dispute focuses on denial ofbreak for workers to pray
A national Muslim organization says it wants to mediate with Dell Inc, over 30 Somali workers who are at the center of a dispute over prayer at work.
The Council on American and Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C. sent an e-mail and letter yesterday to Dell president and chief executive Kevin B. Rollins after the Nashville newspaper, The Tennessean, reported that the workers walked off their jobs last month because they were forced to ‘‘choose between their faith and their employment.’’
The workers, who loaded boxes or operated forklifts at Dell’s Nashville plant, requested time off to pray at sunset and were told they could not, said Ibrahim Hooper, executive director of the council.
Dell spokesman T.R. Reid said the Texas-based computer manufacturing firm has a longstanding policy of accommodating workers of different religious faiths. He said Dell is working with the Metropolitan Human Relations Commission in Nashville ‘‘to better understand and resolve the issue.’’
‘‘There were some contract employees at our operation there who evidently were involved in something that was an anomaly in terms of a dispute with their manager over prayer breaks,’’ said Reid.
Specialists say such disputes are becoming more commonplace as diverse groups of people enter the workplace, bringing different forms of worship. In addition, companies like Intel Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif., are permitting prayer at work as part of their diversity programs as long as praying does not disrupt work and participants in prayer groups do not force their beliefs on co-workers.
According to Reid, the manager involved in the dispute is from Spherion, a national staffing agency that placed the workers at the Dell facility. Spherion said in an e-mail that it has not received a formal complaint from the Nashville human rights commission.
‘‘Spherion is an equal employment opportunity employer that employs over 300,000 people nationwide,’’ the company’s statement said. ‘‘Spherion has a firm commitment to and a proven track record of diversity and equality in its employment practices.’’
Spherion also said that it is confident that its ‘‘policies and practices on religious accommodation meet or exceed what is required by law.’’
Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers cannot discriminate and must accommodate workers’ religious beliefs as long as the accommodation does not cause undue hardship such as loss of revenue.
Kelvin Jones, director of the human rights commission, said a representative of the Somali workers came to his office several days ago to discuss the situation, and asked the commission to intervene on the workers’ behalf.
‘‘What they told us was that they’d had a good working relationship at Dell, but at the end of October or the beginning of November they became concerned,’’ said Jones. ‘‘A manager told a group of them that they would no longer be able to pray at the workplace.’’
Jones said the workers appealed to the manager and thought they had resolved the matter until the dispute over prayer arose last month. He said the commission is trying to bring all parties together to discuss the circumstances.
Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com. 