 |
| Construction company owner Joel Dahl (left) sued by worker Ryan Coleman (right) |
Last week Ryan Coleman, 34, filed an $800,000
lawsuit against Dahled Up Construction, a company based in Albany, an hour
south of Portland, Oregon.
According to the complaint, he was hired as a painter
in October 2017 and later discovered that he was required to attend Christian
Bible study as part of his employment.
Coleman expressed his discomfort with attending the
Bible study meetings and said the requirement was illegal, but business owner
Joel Dahl insisted that he had to go anyway.
Coleman, who has a felony conviction in his
past, attended the sessions for a few months, believing he had no other choice.
After several months, Coleman finally refused to go to
the religious sessions and was fired from the job, according to the filing. He
is suing for $50,000 of alleged loss of income and $750,000 from "mental
stress, humiliation, inconvenience and loss of enjoyment of life."
His lawyer said "A nonreligious employer cannot
obligate employees to attend Bible study whether they are paid for their time
or not. They can make it voluntary but they can't make it a condition of
employment."
Coleman suffered religious discrimination,
retaliation and wrongful termination, the lawsuit says.
Kent Hickam, the attorney representing Dahled Up
Construction claims that the suit was without merit. "We believe that this
requirement was not illegal. These are at-will employees and they were paid to
go to the religious sessions. It was part of their job, so they were expected
to attend."
The Bible study took place once a week for about an
hour in the afternoon. The meetings were meant to help employees, many of whom
were felons and people recovering from addiction, Hickam said.
"It was arranged through a pastor to provide some
appropriate motivation for them to stay the course. To maintain their
recovery," Hickam said.
Because of his own history with drugs and alcohol, Dahl,
the construction company's owner is a second-chance employer who hires felons
and recovering addicts.
Part A – Please
ask questions so as to get the underlined answer
- 1. Dahl pays workers to attend Bible study classes.
- 2. The hour-long classes are held at the Helping Hands homeless shelter on Southeast Ninth Avenue in Albany.
- 3. Dahl answered reporters’ questions in front of some of his 15 employees outside his home.
- 4. They wore shirts decorated with the company's logo on one side and a cross on the other.
- 5. Dahl has around 30 days to file an official response.
Part B – Fill in the blanks with the most suitable words. Do not use
“so” - “because” -”but” - “then”
- 1. Coleman, a 34-year-old man, has filed an $800,000 lawsuit against an Albany construction company _________the owner fired him after he refused to attend weekly Bible study.
- 2. _________ Coleman felt very uncomfortable, he attended the Bible study.
- 3. "It's religious discrimination," Coleman said. "He wrongfully terminated me _________ my religious beliefs."
- 4. Dahl struggled with drugs and alcohol and served time in prison for attempted second-degree assault. He said he’s been clean and sober _________seven years. He started his company in 2016 and _________then he has been helping other convicted felons or people who’ve battled addictions rebuild their lives.
- 5. “This is so illegal,” said Corinne Schram, a Portland attorney representing Coleman. “_________ you are a religious organization like a church, you cannot force your employees to participate in religious activities.”
Part C –
Fill in the blanks with a suitable preposition
Coleman worked
_________ the small construction company _________ October 2017 _________ April
2018, when he was fired.
Coleman, who is half-Native American (Cherokee
and Blackfoot), is not a practicing Christian and told Dahl multiple times
that he wasn't comfortable _________the Bible study.
_________April, Coleman told Dahl_________a
phone call that he had a right not to attend the Christian Bible study, at
which point he was fired, according _________court documents.
Deborah
Widiss, a law professor_________ Indiana University at Bloomington, said
federal law prohibits companies_________firing or hiring based_________an
employee's religious beliefs. Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers
cannot discriminate against workers _________ the basis of sex, race, color,
national origin or religion.
From Oregon Live (edited)
