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Case of Jewish Woman Who Refuses to Work on Sabbath Brought Before Pennsylvania Court

September 26, 1948
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The Pennsylvania Superior Court will consider the case of a Jewish woman who, because she refused to work on the Sabbath, was denied State Unemployment Compensation Board benefits. She rejected a position offered her be the Board because it required working on Saturday.

Leo Pfeffer, assistant national director of the American Jewish Congress, has asked the court to reverse the Board’s decision on the grounds that it was within the woman’s right to refuse to work on Saturday, “since working on the Jewish Sabbath is in violation of her religious observance.” Sabbath observance, Pfeffer argued, whether it be on Saturday or Sunday, is a basic tenet of religious freedom.

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