Muslim flight attendant suspended for not serving alcohol

[alarimer]

147. I get that she can't drink it, but why force passengers to adhere to her religious nonsense?

Especially on those flights where no one else is working. This means scheduling someone else for those flights and I'm not sure that's a reasonable accommodation. A reasonable accommodation is one that doesn't seriously effect operations. If I owned a retail establishment that was open 7 days a week and had a Jewish employee who wanted every Saturday off, and a Christian employee that wanted every Sunday off, I could accommodate both of those people easily enough. But it would be much more difficult if I had a lot of Christian employees who all wanted Sundays off. I cannot be expected to grant them all the day off to accommodate their religious preferences.

So we have to determine what is considered reasonable. What is reasonable to an employer may not seem reasonable to other workers. And what is reasonable to one employer would be impossible to another. For airlines, it is my understanding that the most senior employees (in this case flight attendants) get the most favorable routes and schedules. It is my guess that the single-FA flights are NOT among those, being of shorter duration and maybe to smaller towns and cities. So how is it fair that senior flight attendants (who normally would have the better routes) give up their privileges to accommodate a less-senior FA (assuming they are not at the same levels)? I don't think that would be reasonable.

And then there is the issue of the passengers. I get that she doesn't drink alcohol. But is there some prohibition on handling it? Or serving it to others, who may not share your beliefs? What right do you have to force your beliefs on them? They are not guests in your home. They are paying passengers and part of the job entails serving alcohol. So long as that is a legal activity, it always will.

And it isn't discrimination not to be able to accommodate a such a request if it means that the business cannot easily make a religious accommodation. What if they need her at the last minute for a flight in which she would be the only FA? Say someone called in sick or whatever. Then do they cancel the flight because she can't do it? I don't think that's reasonable either.