A new program emphasizing partnership between the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department and the EEOC has resulted in its first case, according to this AP report . A teacher in Illinois' Berkeley School District was denied the request for 3 weeks of unpaid leave to complete her pilgrimage to Mecca, as required by her religious beliefs.
In a civil rights case, the department said the school district in Berkeley, Ill., denied the request of Safoorah Khan on grounds that her requested leave was unrelated to her professional duties and was not set forth in the contract between the school district and the teachers union. In doing so the school district violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to reasonably accommodate her religious practices, the government said.
