Hawwah Santiago was a “sandwich artist” at a Subway restaurant in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. She was fired after refusing to remove her nose ring while at work. Visible body piercings (other than earrings) violated the company dress code. Ms. Santiago sued, claiming that the nose ring was a practice of her Nuwaibian religion. The Nuwaibians, based in Eatonton GA, are a black supremacist cult with an elaborate set of beliefs, some of which require an inordinate degree of faith. Here is a very brief sample, courtesy of Wickipedia:
The Illuminati have nurtured a child, Satan’s son, who was born on 6 June 1966 at the Dakota House on 72nd Street in New York to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis of the Rothschild/Kennedy families. The Pope was present at the birth and performed necromantic ceremonies. The child was raised by former U.S. president Richard Nixon and now lives in Belgium, where it is hooked up bodily to a computer called “The Beast 3M” or “3666. [Hmmm. Wonder what brand of virus control is used on the computer.]
There is an underground road connecting New York and London.
The issue here is not the quality of Santiago’s beliefs, but whether these beliefs entitle her to an exemption from company dress policy. The EEOC supported her charge of religious discrimination in the firing and brought suit against the employer. (While a government agency may not be in an ideal position to determine where religion ends and whackiness begins, the EEOC appears to have erred on the side of inclusiveness.)
A jury found that Ms. Santiago did not wear the nose ring because of a “sincerely held religious belief.” Not satisfied, the EEOC sought injunctive relief and punitive damages. But the court dismissed the case. Judge John Antoon II wrote: “The EEOC’s own publications acknowledge that some inquiry into the sincerity of an employee’s belief is appropriate. Otherwise, an employer would have to grant an accommodation any time an employee requested one.”
The leader of the Nuwaubians, Dwight York, currently rules his flock from a jail cell, where he resides under a sentence of more than 135 years for racketeering and child molestation (“suffer the children”?). Oh, ye of little faith! Someday in the not-too-distant future, York will begin his leisurely stroll through the underground road that runs from New York to London. Deep beneath the turbulent waters of the Atlantic Ocean, he will doubtless pause along the way for a delicious sub, lovingly prepared by a sandwich artist with dazzling piercings. When he emerges at last in London – near the lions guarding Nelson’s column, one assumes – the doubters will be vanquished and Nuwaibian claims for religious accommodation will finally be deemed credible.
Tags: discrimination, EEOC, religion