Case Study

As immigrants continue to come to the United States from many different cultures and religions,

differences will cause some challenges and problems. One area where this has occurred is with

Islamic culture and religion in the meat processing industry. A plant (a fresh chicken facility)

belonging to Tyson Foods, Inc., in Shelbyville, Tennessee, is one example. The company hired

about 250 people from Somalia. A long-running civil war in their country has forced many Somalis

to settle in the United States as refugees, and many Somalis are Muslim.

The union at the plant requested replacing the paid holiday Labor Day with Eid ul-Fitr, a religious

holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The request was brought up as

part of negotiations for a new labor contract, and was part of the overall contract proposal

approved by union members. The plant is often open on Labor Day anyway to meet consumer

demand during the barbeque season. Along with holiday pay, the workers also received time and

a half for hours worked on Labor Day. The EEOC says employers may not treat people more or less favorably because of their religion. However, religious accommodation may

be warranted unless it would impose an undue hardship on the employer. Flexible scheduling,

voluntary time swaps, transfers, and reassignments are possible means of accommodation, along

with other policies and practices.

Tysons consideration of exchanging Labor Day for Eid ul-Fitr brought strong reactions from non-

Muslim workers and the general public. The union voted again on the issue and overwhelmingly

voted to reinstate Labor Day as a paid holiday. The companys solution was to have eight paid

holidays, including a personal holiday that could be either the employees birthday, Eid ul-Fitr,

or another day approved by the employees supervisor. That compromise was acceptable to the

workers.

Another company that faced similar issues is JBS-SWIFT, a meat packer with plants in Grand

Island, Nebraska, and Greeley, Colorado. That company also hired many Somali Muslims. The

issue there was prayer time. In Greeley, the Muslim workers demanded time to pray at

Sundownas requirement during Ramadan. The plant works three shifts. More than 300

workers walked out when they were told they could not have the time to pray. More than 100

were fired later, not for walking out but for not returning to work. The walkout touched off

protests from workers of different faiths who thought the request for religious accommodation

was too much.The EEOC ruled that JBS-SWIFT had violated the civil rights of the employees it had

fired. The company was found to have denied religious accommodation and retaliated against

workers who complained. JBS-SWIFT has since set up special prayer rooms at its plants and allows

Muslim workers to meet their religious obligations, which include prayers five times daily.

Explain briefly and correctly:

In the Tyson Food case, list the specific challenges that the HR Department faced while

dealing with this issue?