Attorney sues Ohio county for making Jewish holiday observance difficult

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(JTA) — A former county attorney in Ohio has filed a lawsuit alleging that she had to use vacation time to observe Jewish holidays.

Kimberly Edelstein in a lawsuit filed against Butler County as well as its judge, prosecutor and assistant prosecutor, said she was not allowed to use official holiday time off in her observance of Jewish holidays, and instead was required to use vacation time and work extra hours, the local Fox affiliate Fox19 WXIX reported Tuesday.

Edelstein said she was fired two days after asking to take off eight days for the High Holidays last year.

She charged that the county, in the southern part of the state, authorizes Christmas as a holiday and does not provide official holiday time off for employees of different religions.

Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser told WXIX that “it is nuts for anyone to think I discriminate based on race, religion, politics, sex etc.”

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