Religious discrimination at work

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Fish

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I need some help! For the last 1 1/2 - 2 years at the bottom of my emails at work, I put:

Jezu Famu Tobe
Jesus, I Trust In You

This is at the very bottom after my name and contact information.

I have received nothing but positive feed back from people in that time period. Yesterday our new HR Director sends me an email saying that although she shares my beliefs I have to remove that from my emails because it might offend someone.

My response was: You are kidding. Right?

She said no that she feared offending someone and that there have been law suits over stuff like this.

I did a Google search and couldn’t find one case relating to something like this. Everything was regarding other religions being harassed and etc.

I really don’t want to remove my little homage to our Lord from my emails. I also can’t afford to lose my job if it comes to that.
 
what is the universal policy of your employer? that is the policy that should be followed. If there is no published policy, either HRD has to publish a policy that applies to all employees or it has to be silent on this issue. If you are the only one who has been approached about a personal signature on your e-mails it is discrimination no matter what the message contains.
 
We have no policy and as far as I know, no one else has been appoached. I also don’t know of anyone else who has a message on their email.

I am not worried about the discrimination aspect, I just want to be able to keep my message!
 
It’s not like I am going out and trying to push my beliefs on other people. I just want to honor God and let people know where I stand. It may keep them from offending me in the future with something they might say or do if they didn’t know I was a Christian.
 
Fish said:
We have no policy and as far as I know, no one else has been appoached. I also don’t know of anyone else who has a message on their email.

I am not worried about the discrimination aspect, I just want to be able to keep my message!
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Do you have an employee manual? You might want to read that.
I have one in my office, and it is way too thick - few hundred pages. 😃
 
We do have an employee manual, but it doesn’t address religion. ours isn’t that thick 15 - 20 pages of light bathroom reading. 🙂
 
I am not sure if my company has any restriction on religion at work, but I had to admit that I couldn’t do what you do with the signature. In my opinion, I don’t want to offend people if they don’t like it. However, There are different ways that I like to do to mention about Jesus without turning people away.
  • put a 1-foot crucifix on the wall, and whoever comes in to his/her office, they can see it.
  • Once awhile, put some Sunday bulletin and religious books on his desks so that the clean-up crews come at night, they have a chance to take a peek at 🙂
  • Have a picture of Jesus and/or Virgin Mary on his desk or computer screen.
  • Smile more.
 
My work e-mails go out not only to co-workers, but to clients all over the country. I don’t add any kind of personal signature to them – just my name, title, company, phone, fax, and e-mail.

Around Christmas time, I do put up a small (tabletop) tree and small Creche in my office. 🙂 Some years, I have a wall calendar with religious pictures; other years I don’t; depends on what comes in the mail.

Mudgie-in-training and freelance sparkle/coffee grinds sprinkler
 
My employer has restrictions on public parts of the building – we’re not allowed to put up religious, political, or personal things. But in private areas such as offices or the staff room we can put up whatever we want. You see the difference at Christmas, for example, when the public areas have virtually nothing and offices have Christmas trees, Santas, creches, etc. The same holds true with hearts at Valentine’s Day, shamrocks in March, and jack-o-lanterns in October.

I think I would apply that same rule to my e-mail. If I’m using my employer’s e-mail system to present the public face of my employer then I don’t think personal expressions are proper. If I’m using my private e-mail, then I can include anything I want. It’s not my employer’s place to say what I can believe or who I can vote for, but it isn’t my place to make it appear that my employer supports certain religious, political, or other beliefs.
 
Perhaps you could ask the folks at the Thomas More Law Center (thomasmore.org/). This seems like the kind of thing that would be right up their alley.
 
your employer may not have a policy on religious messages per se but they very likely have a policy on what may be included in e-mail messages, and also using email for non-work related messages, better find out what that policy is so you know where you stand. If your emails go outside the company to customers etc. there should be nothing whatever in them that does not related to company business.
 
puzzleannie said:
what is the universal policy of your employer? that is the policy that should be followed. If there is no published policy, either HRD has to publish a policy that applies to all employees or it has to be silent on this issue. If you are the only one who has been approached about a personal signature on your e-mails it is discrimination no matter what the message contains.
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Since the email system (I am assuming) belongs to the employer, they have a right to control it. This is different than saying that someone can’t wear a crucifix or put personal religious pictures in their cubicle. It is altering a company product (the email) to reflect a personal belief.

While restricting religious expression would be discriminatory, restricting the use of company property to do so would probably not be. A published policy is not necessary although it would certainly be helpful. Most likely there is some kind of technology statement the says that all of the office machines, email and work product are the property of the employer.

In my opionion, this is one of those things that is not worth the fight. Try to find a way to express your faith without using the company’s system.
 
Fish said:
I need some help! For the last 1 1/2 - 2 years at the bottom of my emails at work, I put:

Jezu Famu Tobe
Jesus, I Trust In You

This is at the very bottom after my name and contact information.

I have received nothing but positive feed back from people in that time period. Yesterday our new HR Director sends me an email saying that although she shares my beliefs I have to remove that from my emails because it might offend someone.

My response was: You are kidding. Right?

She said no that she feared offending someone and that there have been law suits over stuff like this.

I did a Google search and couldn’t find one case relating to something like this. Everything was regarding other religions being harassed and etc.

I really don’t want to remove my little homage to our Lord from my emails. I also can’t afford to lose my job if it comes to that.
Click to expand...
Your company isn’t designed or there to help promote our faith…Using company equipment (I’m using the HR lingo) to promote it, is techinically wrong, because it’s their equipment. I see nothing wrong with it, but I work for a global company where our Muslim and Jewish counterparts overseas, or even in North America, might find it offensive. And, by offensive, I mean that they could then be allowed to start posting verses from the Qu’ran, and th Torah at the end of their emails, and then you have chaos. So, it’s really not within our ‘rights’ to have things in writing on company letterhead etc that involves our faith. I share my faith with many…people no doubt know I am a devout Catholic…but, I understand why HR told you this. (And, it’s not religious discrimination, by the way…if others were allowed to post verses from their religious books, and you were the only one excluded because you are Christian, say, THAT would be discrimination) It sounds like this is a universal policy. That’s all.
 
Fish said:
I need some help! For the last 1 1/2 - 2 years at the bottom of my emails at work, I put:

Jezu Famu Tobe
Jesus, I Trust In You

This is at the very bottom after my name and contact information.

I have received nothing but positive feed back from people in that time period. Yesterday our new HR Director sends me an email saying that although she shares my beliefs I have to remove that from my emails because it might offend someone.

My response was: You are kidding. Right?

She said no that she feared offending someone and that there have been law suits over stuff like this.

I did a Google search and couldn’t find one case relating to something like this. Everything was regarding other religions being harassed and etc.

I really don’t want to remove my little homage to our Lord from my emails. I also can’t afford to lose my job if it comes to that.
Click to expand...
You have to understand that it is most important not to offend our Muslim, etc. brothers.
It would be ok, though, to put Allah Akbar in your sig because you wouldn’t be offending anyone but Christians.
 
Ignatius said:
You have to understand that it is most important not to offend our Muslim, etc. brothers.
It would be ok, though, to put Allah Akbar in your sig because you wouldn’t be offending anyone but Christians.
Click to expand...
Given that you’re representing your company when using corporate e-mail, I don’t think “Allah Akbar” would be appropriate in a sig, either, unless the company was a Muslim religious institution.

Mudgie-in-training and freelance sparkle/coffee grinds sprinkler
 
You could put something equally nice, but that is not specifically religious, such as “Wishing you a happy day!” that would still indicate to them that you are a nice lady (thus, please don’t swear in front of me) but without bringing in the subject of religion.
 
Thanks to everyone that has posted a reply. I was feeling a little upset about things and the more I dwelled on it the madder I got.

I did see and understand our HR Dir. opinion, I just didn’t feel like it was hurting anybody. However, after reading some of your excellent posts I am changing my point of view. That is why I posted this question here, I knew all you good folks would have some great insights.

The email system does belong to the company and if that is their policy so be it. I just feel like I will be turning my back on God if I remove it. I guess I will have to find another way to honor Him!

Thank you everyone and God Bless you!

Jesu Famu Tobe
Jesus, I Trust in You
 
Ignatius said:
You have to understand that it is most important not to offend our Muslim, etc. brothers.
It would be ok, though, to put Allah Akbar in your sig because you wouldn’t be offending anyone but Christians.
Click to expand...
I agree, it seems like society is worried about offending everyone but Christians.
 
jmcrae said:
You could put something equally nice, but that is not specifically religious, such as “Wishing you a happy day!” that would still indicate to them that you are a nice lady (thus, please don’t swear in front of me) but without bringing in the subject of religion.
Click to expand...
I am not a nice lady, I am a nice man.:o
 
One other thought I had was that we have taken God out of our schools and look at what a mess they are for the most part. Of course there are exceptions.

I was going to fight this thing tooth and nail, but it would be in vain and I really don’t need to get one of the Director’s of our company upset at me. :eek:

One thing I left out, I am in sales and since I have been putting that phrase on my emails my sales have sky rocketed. (For whatever that is worth) I also pray every morning and thank God for all of my blessings and for providing for me and my family. That probably helps as well.

I believe that the majority of people in the US are good christian people and wouldn’t be offended by it. (Sorry random thoughts keep popping into my head as I write this):o

Anyway, thanks so much again…
 
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