Written by Don Byrd
A flight attendant has filed a complaint against her employer, ExpressJet Airlines, alleging religious discrimination for failing to accommodate her religious objections to serving alcohol. The company initially granted Charee Stanley’s request, allowing her to arrange for other flight attendants to cover that duty. Then, she alleges, something changed.
The Washington Post reports:
[I]n early August, an airline employee filed an internal complaint against Stanley. Stanley was not doing her job when refusing to serve alcohol, the employee alleged, also calling attention to Stanley’s “headdress” and a book she carried with “foreign writings.”
And, late last month, ExpressJet reversed itself. The airline, as explained in Stanley’s complaint, told her “it was revoking its religious accommodation of excluding service of alcohol from her duties.” Stanley was placed on administrative leave without pay for 12 months — “after which her employment would be administratively terminated.”
Meanwhile, law professor Eugene Volokh posted a helpful explainer, entitled “When does your religion legally excuse you from doing part of your job?” discussing both this case and the controversy surrounding Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, who remains jailed over her refusal to issue marriage licenses. You can see my thoughts on the Kim Davis case here.
