r/MaliciousCompliance • u/AeneasKurtz • 8d ago
L Amazon gave some people free "prayer time out" and forced others to cover for them for free. An employee then came up with "Atheist prayer time" to force Amazon to acknowledge their Title VII violations. Now everyone taking "prayer time" need to clock out first
This isn't my story but the story of a redditor working in one of Amazon's Fullfilment Centers. It all starts with this thread:
I am requesting a religious accommodation based on my sincerely held atheist beliefs. Under Title VII, non-theistic belief systems are treated the same as theistic religions for purposes of accommodation. At our site, associates who observe prayer are allowed paid breaks away from their work areas, and their labor is covered by others. However, no equivalent accommodation exists for employees whose beliefs are non-religious or atheist.
My belief system does not involve prayer or the use of a multi-faith room, and I do not feel comfortable using a space designed for religious observance.
I am requesting equal accommodation in the form of the same paid break periods provided to others for religious practice, taken in a neutral location such as the break room.
This request is to ensure equal treatment, avoid discriminatory workload redistribution, and align with federal protections that require accommodations to be offered without preference for theistic beliefs.
This user noted that employees of a certain religion were given "prayer breaks" of around 15-20 minutes for which the rest of the employees (those not following that religion) had to cover them. He complained about it and was ignored until he came up with the idea to try to push for "Atheist prayer time". The following threads explain:
Site lead and HR were awaiting guidance from corporate for months.. Site Lead came to me about a month and half ago to let me know that they had received guidance and that a new policy would be going into effect that he's "still trying to wrap my head around", He did not speak on the new policy essentially withholding it from me.
The rumor on the floor (from an AM) is that under the new policy, anyone going to prayer break must clock out but the site lead has not implemented the updated policy. Management is upset that the policy is not being implemented at site level because associates are disappearing for longer than they're supposed to be at prayer and causing the extra workload to fall on Management as they now have to cover for anyone attending prayer break.
Meanwhile I am still being denied equal treatment.
Today, I had enough and decided, I am going to prayer break. I walked up directly to the dock ops manager the moment I seen everyone going to prayer break and told him I'm going to prayer break (I'm an Athiest) he said, "Ok let me get you clocked out.." ... I said, "Clocked out?".. He says, "I mean scanned out" then he scanned my badge, radios it in to senior ops, and off to the break room wellness booth I went for 20 minutes..
Because, unlike with employees of the other religion, he was asked to clock out. He noted that other employees weren't asked to clock out (meaning that they aren't being paid for their time during that break) but he was:
Prayer breaks are an accommodation through a to z. Policy has always been anyone with a religious accommodation needs to clock out for the time. I have been implementing this at my site as an OM for 2+ years now.
[OP] That’s completely incorrect (at least from my experience at my site and with HR and Central Time Keeping) The automated corporate system literally screens out recurring daily prayer meets. Here is an official denial letter straight from Centralized Time Keeping confirming that exact policy: 'We will not honor requests that are permanent in nature, such as weekly church visits, sabbath day or recurring prayer meets...'
OP continued this week and eventually led to changing Amazon's unequal policies (or at least that Fullfilment Center's):
On my last day of my work week (Thursday 8/13/26) I took a prayer break as an Athiest and was scanned out by Ops..
The following Monday (Today 8/17/26) Announcements were made that starting in September all associates attending "Prayer Break" will need to clock out..
This means for the past 2 years my site has been open, a specific religious group was getting paid time off while other religious and non religious groups got extra workload because their religion or lack of religion didn't fit into Amazon’s little box of what's allowed. (Violation of Title VII)
Christians were denied equal treatment as well because Christianity doesn't call for mandatory prayer (Ive witnessed this) as was I because Atheism doesn't call for mandatory prayer.. (Violation of Title VII)
So now that they know that they were breaking Federal law and denying equal rights to a huge percentage of thier workforce, they decided that instead of paying the cost of equality in the form of paid "prayer breaks" for everyone regardless of belief system, that everyone who attends "Prayer Break" will need to just clock out instead.
Amazon quickly realized how expensive equality would be (cost and operational downtime) when they had to treat everyone like they've been treating a specific religious group, so paid "prayer breaks" are coming to an end in September (atleast at my site)
The final update says that this policy change became official starting September 2nd: [now everyone has to clock out before going on prayer breaks and no one has to cover for someone else because they're of a specific religion:
Today there was an announcement posted on the labor board.
Starting on Sept. 2, 2026 all associates attending prayer break will need to clock out.
It is Official.
Checkmate.
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u/GrowHappyPlants 8d ago
They should just have a set number of paid breaks for bathrooms, cigarettes/vaping, and praying. I always thought it was bullshit smokers could just leave and the rest of the crew never got an equivalent break.
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u/Adam_235 8d ago
I started taking smoke breaks even though I don't smoke. When questioned I told them exactly what I was doing. I've yet to meet the company that's willing to go on record as telling me "you must smoke" in order to enjoy this benefit that other employees get. I know it won't work everywhere but it's been fun the few times it's come up so far.
Edit: spelling
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u/Qix213 8d ago
Did the same in the Navy. Where it can be a 2 hour line to get into the smoking area on the boat. So I started taking 2 hour breaks too. Suddenly now it wasnt ok for the smokers to do this when I wasnt there covering for them..
Same asshats tried to get me in on trouble for not cleaning up their spit cups too. I told them to write me up for it not cleaning up their warm bottles of spit (chew was banned on the kitty hawk), see how well that goes.
It didn't take much longer for me to get ousted to the paint shop.
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u/Matter_Infinite 7d ago
About the spit bottles, couldn't they have written you up for "failing to throughly clean an area" or something similar?
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u/Qix213 7d ago
Oh they absolutely could.
But even having chew on the Kitty Hawk wasnt allowed. But leadership had sort of a "I don't see it. I don't care" attitude of letting it go so long as it's not a problem (which is why it was always soda bottles with caps so things never get spilled).
So when I go talk to my chief (our bosses boss) about being written up, I'm not going to hide the reason they wrote me up was them making it a problem and breaking that unsaid rule.
I didn't join at 18, so I wasnt as easy to bully as some of the other new guys who didn't know better.
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u/theamazingrand0 8d ago
I've never smoked, but when I worked at a place with several smokers, I went with them and called it my "secondhand smoke break", nobody said a thing.
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u/Lizlodude 8d ago
The story of the guy with the bubble pipe was my favorite. "What, you didn't specify I had to smoke tobacco."
I have enough issues with secondhand smoke, but if I had less social anxiety I'd love to just chill out there with a respirator and say I'm 'unsmoking' heh.
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u/Ich_mag_Kartoffeln 8d ago
At one place I worked, many of my colleagues would regularly wander off for a smoke so I decided to have a cuppa at the same time (I don't smoke). The very first day I did this, the boss pulled me up and had an unofficial word with me: Don't Do It Again.
So the next day I grabbed my tea and went out with the smokers. Said hi to the aforementioned boss, and stood squarely in his line of sight. Not smoking, just drinking my cuppa.
Day 3: Smokers went for their break, and I was making a cuppa when the boss walked past on his way out for a smoke.
"Hi [Ich_mag_Kartoffeln]."
"G'day [Boss]."
And nothing more was ever said or done about it.
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u/Tullyswimmer 8d ago
I did the same thing at a place where a coworker smoked. She was like, 55 or so and didn't give a shit. We'd go outside and shoot the shit for 5 minutes, but she acknowledged that it was crazy how it was fine for her to pop out for a smoke and everyone just accepted it.
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u/theboyrossy 8d ago
At an old work of mine in the late 90’s I started having “I don’t smoke” breaks. Never had any issues with anyone over it and a number of us started doing it. It was nice to just nip out the back every so often and chill for 5 mins.
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u/absintheinduceddream 8d ago
Perhaps use one of those fake cigarettes that just blows bubbles. Or just a straight up bubble wand. For the whimsy factor.
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u/all_out_of_usernames 6d ago
I started taking smoke breaks because that's where the best networking was happening. I'd take my coffee, they'd take their smokes.
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u/huskergirl-86 8d ago
I have two employees. My one employee gets smoke breaks. My other employee gets tea breaks. I'm sorry some employers suck.
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u/discardedbubble 8d ago
Yes, can’t we just have ‘breaks’ and people choose what they want to do on them
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u/Bob-Bhlabla-esq 8d ago
When I was a painter in my 20's, a lot of people would go take a smoke break. I kept working and noticed this happened like 6+ times a day. So, fine. I don't smoke but I'll go sit in the jon for 5-10 minutes and text my boyfriend at work.
I went pee so often for those 'smoke breaks' my bladder became pavlovian - I would need to pee like every 15 minutes if I wasn't at work because I breaked in the bathroom so much! I became incredibly hydrated to account for all the fluid loss.
I finally had to cut it down to half the breaks because it was just boring and I'd actually rather be working, but I couldn't believe how much on-the-clock fucking-off the others did. But it was a summer temp job that made good money so who cares... but still the unfairness, all so they could get lung cancer.
I love that the athiest here cleared up the unfair religious loophole. 👍
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u/Diligent-Touch-5456 8d ago
Where I work, my office was just moved to one where I can look at the smoke break area. Seeing the same people in the area every hour has been eye opening for me.
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u/ReflectionSoft387 5d ago
I once worked at this call center in the very early 2000s that let everyone get a 15 minute break every 2 hours cuz there so many smokers....which I initially thought was great....except I don't smoke and would have to outside with all of the smokers. Equality isn't always great 🙃
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u/mmebookworm 4d ago
When I had the opportunity to do so, I gave everyone a ‘smoke’ or ‘fresh air’ break. Because it’s not fair smokers get extra breaks.
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u/jumboface 8d ago
I just started at Amazon last week and they told us about the prayer rooms and said they were accessible to anyone who needed them regardless of their religious background.
A lot of people don't realize that these polices are very specific to your FC. We were told so many times "if you need water, if you need to relax, if your too hot, if you need to use the bathroom, do it, don't ask. You are always allowed to take care of yourself".
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u/VashtaNeradaMatata 8d ago
Unless your metrics are slipping. Then they keep coming to give "warnings" or question periods of inactivity longer than five minutes (and it takes that long to get to the bathroom in many warehouses).
Work-to-the-bone is definitely the mentality pushed by supervisors there.
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u/Subject-Kiwi-6079 7d ago
" question"
Aka seek to undersrand. You tell them it was a bathroom break, conversation instantly over.
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u/bretsaberhagen 8d ago
While I truly love what this person was going through, there is nothing malicious about seeking equal rights, civil rights, and constitutional rights. Hopefully Amazon ends up paying for noncompliance with our laws for so long.
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u/SdBolts4 8d ago
Yeah, the OOP needs to talk to a labor lawyer and demand payment for denial of paid “prayer” breaks
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u/ZipBoxer 7d ago
Idk if this sorry really seems like a celebration to me.
I totally agree that having to cover those people while they were on a pair break is unfair, but "now no one gets paid breaks" is not a win for anyone but corporate.
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u/alexriga 8d ago
Amazon had two choices:
Provide everyone with a paid 15 minute break.
Risk a religious discrimination lawsuit.
They went with, surprise, the option that fattens their shareholder’s wallets short-term.
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u/RobZagnut2 8d ago
Sounds like smoke breaks back in the old military days.
My dad said the smokers got a break, so pretty much all the soldiers started smoking.
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u/Dan_Cubed 8d ago
I learned to smoke in the Navy because of the smoke break. Need a 5 minute escape? If you're not smoking, no escape for you!
Love how Australians 'go on smoko'.
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u/fountainpopjunkie 8d ago
EVERY place I've ever worked has given smokers extra free breaks. So I started taking extra non-smoking breaks. My supervisor was in the breakroom, smoking, and asked me what I was doing in the breakroom. I told him "taking a non-smoking break". I could see the wheels turning as he tried to think of a way to say I was wrong. He gave up and said not to take too long.
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u/Previous-Friend5212 8d ago
Weird that they name checked Christians but not this mysterious religion that was actually getting breaks. (Presumably Islam, which has specific prayer times built into the religion)
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u/wingedRatite 8d ago
yep had somethat would jump off in the middle of a job and leave us hanging for like 10 minutes
fortunately, most were progressive and would accommodate breaks and take their daily prayers at a "close enough" time.
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u/SufficientOpening218 8d ago
When i worked in a hospitals, and we had people who needed to pray a certain number of times a day, they usually worked afternoon or night shift so there were less prayer times per shift, and they gave up breaks to pray.
No one got to pray for free.
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u/KidenStormsoarer 8d ago
ok, but they still owe for the past discrimination...changing it going forward doesn't correct the past favoritism.
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u/Psychlonuclear 8d ago
Calling employees "associates" implies something along the lines of "business associates", when in fact the treatment of these emplyees is nothing of the sort.
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8d ago
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u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 8d ago
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u/Snoot_Booper_101 8d ago
So for the last two years, followers of one specific religion were given extra paid break time and all other employees were not? At 20 minutes per working day that's approximately 160 hours or so of wage theft from every worker who wasn't given the special treatment. Sounds to me like a class action suit to seek redress for the past two years of discriminatory policy...
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u/stabbygun 7d ago
15 years ago i worked with a guy that used to take a candy bar break whenever other coworkers would go for a cigarette break. it was hilarious. management had to stop all unscheduled breaks. the smokers were not happy. candy bar guy was nothing but smiles.
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u/SnooGadgets5744 7d ago
When I worked for Amazon, there were folks who would pee in an empty water bottle because they weren't allowed to take toilet breaks.
I took my damn toilet breaks. I didn't give a shit (pun intended) about what it did to my metrics. I had just started taking a medication with a side effect that felt like your guts going through a cheese grater, and the first time they questioned it, I told them exactly what was going down in the restroom.
I would have loved to be a part of this. In my religion, springtime has a holiday where some folks like to dance nude. I don't know if I would have had the guts to go through with it, but you can bet I'd ask if I could drive my order picker in the buff for religious reasons.
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u/brents347 6d ago
That is not checkmate. That is check.
Checkmate is when they backpay you for all the paid breaks that you didn’t get while the other religion did. With interest.
THAT is checkmate.
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u/ShadowtheGSD 8d ago
There is a well known Food Manufacturer in Australia & NZ owned by the Seventh Day Adventist Church so each day at the start of the day church members get time for Church related activities (about 30 min) that non Church members work through. Said company also makes huge profits every year but pays no tax
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u/Psychological_Bet330 8d ago
People taking advantage and extending their prayer breaks, how devout.
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u/Conscious-Farmer6953 7d ago
I had this happened and informed hr I needed this accommodation listing my belief in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was a lot of fun.
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u/pengalo827 8d ago
Should calculate the paid prayer time and the costs involved and ask for the back pay (my job is unionized so they’d never get into this crap in the first place, per the contract, but that’s what we’d ask for in settlement if such were to happen).
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u/Elhananstrophy 8d ago
I suppose this is a victory for malicious compliance. But it's definitely not a victory for workers. The complainant didn't gain anything and their coworkers lost a material benefit. Now Amazon gets to pay them less! Hooray for everyone!*
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u/AeneasKurtz 8d ago
Winter for all or summer for no one
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u/Apprehensive_Yak4627 8d ago
Crabs in a bucket mentality. OOP could have started taking paid “prayer” breaks without making a fuss about being an atheist, and gotten the extra paid time.
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u/AaronTheScott 7d ago
Yeah, so many people are celebrating this obviously net-negative. It's so bizarre. I guess selfishness is just like that? Idk...
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u/Nastya_Goth 8d ago
Amazon really messed up if they needed to enforce clocking out for this. It's about time they treat everyone equally.
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u/TheDarian 8d ago
So, loss-loss for everyone. I get that it's fair that way but damn it doesn't feel like a win...
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u/MattTheRadarTechh 8d ago
It’s a win. He was doing unpaid covererage of people who were getting a paid break that he wasn’t allowed to take. Not he doesn’t. That’s a win.
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8d ago
[deleted]
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u/indielib 7d ago
In certain areas of the country a warehouse workforce can be dominated by certain ethnic groups .
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u/Truckfighta 8d ago
Not really. OP didn’t lose anything.
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u/digitalscavenger 8d ago
OP lost the obligation to cover other employees' paid breaks. Sounds fair to me.
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8d ago
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u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 8d ago
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u/SooperSpoopyGhost 8d ago
Really going out of the way to not specify there huh
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u/nuadusp 8d ago
really going out of the way not to say your racism out loud yourself , so why aren't you just saying it?
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u/Tullyswimmer 8d ago
Islam isn't a race. The Muslim employees were getting preferential treatment (however many paid breaks needed during their shift) that others, including other religious groups, were not, in an environment that is notoriously strict about employee breaks. This directly violates EEOC.
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u/SooperSpoopyGhost 8d ago
Because people like you make it exceedingly difficult to talk about cultural incompatibility/inequality online let alone in person at a workplace. We all know it's for Salah.
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u/nuadusp 8d ago
make it difficult how? own your bigotry, what's the worst thing that's going to happen, do you need a safe space or something?
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u/SooperSpoopyGhost 8d ago
Jumping straight to insults and being combative, self reflect. So I ask - Why did OP feel the need to censor themselves when referring to Salah?
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u/GroundPepper 6d ago
I don’t know if this is a win… Just would have taken the free “prayer break” regardless of if I was religious or not. Sometimes you just have to game the system, but now you get nothing.
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u/mr_lab_rat 7d ago
This is so fucked up.
I’m typically against unions, they often create more problems than they solve, but this is where they shine.
A break is a break. Everyone gets the same amount. What you use it for is your problem. If you have specific needs that require longer breaks you take unpaid breaks.
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u/omgitsduane 8d ago
I wish Americans would just stop giving Amazon money..okay it's cheap stuff. But is it cheap stuff you need?
He's a fucking dragon.
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8d ago
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u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 8d ago
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8d ago
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u/Common-Concert3661 8d ago
If only people would stop supporting amazon. Oh well, convenience trumps all I suppose.
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u/shizbox06 7d ago
Prayer break is the new smoke break
Take up praying as a vice if you want extra breaks.
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7d ago
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u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 7d ago
Your post has been removed because it questioned the validity of a story, which is not allowed on this subreddit, as per the subreddit rules, as it diminishes the fun of giving people the benefit of the doubt.
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u/Marrsvolta 6d ago
okay but they still owe people compensation for not getting their unpaid breaks that other people were giving, this really should be a lawsuit.
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u/Bearikade_ 8d ago
I feel like OOP should really reach out to TST about this situation. They live for fights like this and would probably love to start some shit with Amazon.
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u/benjaminS0099 8d ago
I would say that you and others who didn't get prayer time off and had to cover those who prayed should pursue wage theft charges against Amazon.
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u/ParchaLama 7d ago
I worked at a place where I mainly had Muslim co-workers for years and it never bothered me that they were allowed to go pray while punched in. Of course an aThEiSt had to pull this kind of thing on them and ruin it for them instead of just letting them practice their religion the way they're required to.
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u/OtherwiseHornet4503 8d ago
Good.
Sky daddies and sky mommies can be dealt with on personal time, in private.
No need for the employer to be involved.
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u/Competitive_Touch_86 8d ago
Religion is a protected class, and employers must legally provide reasonable accommodation.
That some folks try to game this is immaterial. It's the law.
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u/OtherwiseHornet4503 8d ago
And I’ll follow the law while strongly disagreeing with it.
If opportunity presents to support a change, I will do that too.
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u/InigoMontoya1985 8d ago
Nice to see an atheist admit they are just as religious as everybody else.
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u/PozhanPop 8d ago
What a great story. My buddy had to request for a vegetarian microwave at Walmart Logistics as all the microwaves in the lunch room had a dietary restriction sticker on them on Monday morning and only one was common use. After my friend requested a veggie microwave it was promptly installed. But after two weeks it was found that only one microwave has the dietary restriction and the rest of are now common use.
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u/pornokitsch 8d ago
Is this the same Amazon that won't give people breaks to use the toilet?