As if stage III breast cancer weren't enough, Amanda Donaldson was fired from her job for being an atheist.
Meet Amanda Donaldson, a Stage III Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Breast Cancer Patient. In a recent blog entry her husband claims she was fired from her job by her employer Dr. Dawson at ‘El Dorado Chiropractic’ because of her illness and for her lack of religious beliefs.
May 4th was Amanda’s first day back to work since April 14th because of her mastectomy, the surgical removal of the entire affected breast. Mr. Donaldson claims that “a few hours into her shift he(Dr. Dawson) again brings up that she needs Jesus in her life and she respectfully declined.”
In a reply email to AtheosToday, Mr. Donaldson stated that his wife was then terminated. “She was told to leave. She was told ‘Her attitude towards God was no longer welcome in his business’.”
Please show your support for Amanda. (If you can show financial support, that would be great. She and her husband have 3 children, and even with Emergency Medicaid, cancer ain't cheap.)
And the next time some christian asshat whinges about being persecuted, you tell them all about Amanda, and ask them the last time a christian fighting cancer was fired for Jesus.
Amanda Donaldson was fired from her job for being an atheist.That's legal? If something like that happened in Germany, her employer had to pay a fine big enough that she never had to work again.
ReplyDeleteThat's a horrible story. I went to her blog and read the whole thing. I hope her legal action gets results -- in the form of a significant financial settlement. If not, she should contact one of the local tv news outlets. They'd probably love to do a story on a cancer patient being wrongfully fired for her lack of religious beliefs. That guy needs as much negative publicity as possible.
ReplyDeleteI hope the lawsuit pans out. We do live in an overly litigious society, but that is one use of the law that is good and necessary.
ReplyDeleteAnna, no, that's not legal in the US. Unfortunately, the legal process in the US is lengthy and expensive. Depending on how well her cancer treatments are going, she could be dead before it is decided, unless her exemployer settles first. If I were her attorney, I would demand a jury trial, because cancer patients, especially breast cancer patients, get lots of sympathy from juries, and they could weed out any fundies during voire dire.
Sounds to me like she's been the victim of (at the very least) a violation of both the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 *and* the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Of course, the argument could be made that her employer isn't covered under either of those statutes if they have less than 15 employees.
ReplyDeleteAnd you will know they are Christians by their love...
ReplyDelete"And you will know they are Christians by their love..."
ReplyDeleteOuch! Ya, that's a pretty disgusting way to treat someone. Just to remind that it's an example of HUMAN behaviour and not strictly Christian behaviour, I had an atheist Employer for a few years. Nothing in my file indicated that I was a poor employee (I'd received regular promotions prior to his arrival) or that I was speaking of my faith during work (I didn't).
Having my boss know that I was a Christian was enough for him to tell me, "As long as you hold to your Christian beliefs, you've received the last promotion you'll ever get as long as I'm here." The fact that I was in a strong union was the only thing that kept me from being fired, just like Amanda.
As a point of interest, less than a year later he was fired for financial irregularities and I became manager. The old, what goes around comes around.
I'm sorry to hear that, Makarios. Nobody should be fired for their religion, or lack thereof. I've been fired for being an atheist, though I did not have cancer, and three kids, which just makes the whole thing even more unbelievable/horrendous.
ReplyDeleteThough I will say this, Makarios. I don't think every, or even very many, Christians would have done this. However, if you are going to defend christianity in general with the statement that "well, this isn't all christians", please in the future recognize that the same thing can be said about any individual atheist's bad behavior.
hey, Makarios...
ReplyDeleteso, that guy? saying that to you? totally illegal.
but, i would like to point out, i cannot tell employers what my religion is. period. i cant prove it, because i have never had an employer who was stupid enough to say flat out "you are fired for being pagan", but i am pretty sure that that is what has lost me two jobs, and prevented me from another (i was refered to the job by a person i knew, who told the manager that i was pagan. she asked about it in the interview, under the auspices of "you know that we do not grant paid holidays for any non-federal holidays".)
the issue isn't a person's religion or lack thereof - the issue is human idiocy, ignorance and bigotry. Christians are just as likely as any other group to be bigoted, especially against people who are not of their faith... and in the US, it at least *feels* as if they are *MORE* likely, because of how incredibely self-ignorant and self-righteous they are. as a group, i mean.